Spinal Tap

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson

Film Reviews, Tv & Film

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Paul and Amy turn the dial up to eleven as they revisit 1984's Spinal Tap. They laugh through their favorite bits, explore Rob Reiner’s ambitious leap from sitcom actor to acclaimed director, and unpack how the film redefined and reshaped the very genre it set out to parody. You can join the Unspooled conversation on Paul’s Discord at https://discord.gg/ZwtygZGTa6 Follow Paul and Amy on Letterboxd for more of their movie hot takes! https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/ https://letterboxd.com/theamynicholson/ Paul’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma is out now! Find it at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/joyful-recollections-of-trauma-paul-scheer Check out more of Paul's writing on his Substack https://substack.com/@paulscheer Episodic Art by Kim Troxall: https://www.unspooledart.com/ Learn more about the show at Unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and on Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The year is 1984.
0:03.2	It's like a black mirror.
0:05.4	Yeah, it is.
0:06.1	Well, I think it looks like death.
0:07.5	It looks like morning.
0:09.0	Every movie in every cinema is about death.
0:12.7	Death cells.
0:14.3	I think he's right.
0:15.2	There's something about this that's so black.
0:17.9	It's like how much more black could this be?
0:20.1	And the answer is none.
0:22.4	The movie? This is Spinal Tap.
0:28.0	Ah, unschool.
0:31.2	A, um, schools.
0:34.3	It's time for Paul and Navy Cinematica the one of the best movie shot in space.
0:41.0	Oh, Unspool.
0:46.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome to Unspooled.
0:50.8	Yes, welcome to Unspool, a podcast about good movies, Critical hits, fan favorites, mustsies, and in case you missed them.
1:00.0	We have covered the AFI top 100.
1:03.2	Now, we are checking off movies from three major lists, the Letterbox top 250 films with the most fans, the IMDB top 250, and the New York Times, 1,000
1:14.3	essential films. And we'll be chasing our own curiosity, too, which brings us to Spinal Tap,
1:20.9	a movie that finally has a sequel after 41 years. Now, we're not going to be talking about the sequel,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.