The Lucas Brothers

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

News, Politics

4.8 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In which John Heilemann talks with Kenny and Keith Lucas, the 35-year-old identical twin comedians, actors, producers, and writers who share a 2021 Oscar nomination (with Will Berson and Shaka King) for Best Original Screenplay for "Judas and the Black Messiah." Heilemann and the Lucas Brothers discuss their decade-long quest to persuade Hollywood to green-light the story of Fred Hampton, the precocious and charismatic chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party in the late Sixties, and his assassination by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI; Keith and Kenny's unlikely rise from rough family circumstances and the mean streets of Newark, New Jersey through elite law schools (from which they both dropped out days from graduation) to acclaim in the world stand-up comedy, culminating in their 2017 Netflix special, "On Drugs"; the role of illicit substances in their art and lives; their mutual struggles with PTSD, addiction, depression, and suicide; their out-front, at times hilarious, codependency; their passions for politics and philosophy; and how "Seinfeld" saved their lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, John Hyalman here and welcome to Hell in High Water, my podcast from the
0:18.5	recount and I heart radio with big ups to the one and only Rizza for our dope theme music.
0:23.7	The 93rd annual Academy Awards are set to take place on April 25th this coming Sunday,
0:29.0	and I will freely admit that I plan to watch every minute of the show, which is being produced
0:33.1	by the great Stephen Soderbergh and will not have a traditional host, but instead a cluster
0:38.3	of stars as its quote, past, unquote, Brad Pitt, Renee Zoegger, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura
0:45.0	Dern, Don Chital, Brian Kranson, Regina King, Reese Witherspoon, etc, etc.
0:50.7	The movie with the most nominations this year with ten is Mank.
0:55.1	David Fincher's film for Netflix about the making of Citizen Kane, then there are several
0:59.2	movies with six nominations.
1:01.2	The most interesting of which for our purposes here on Hell in High Water is Judas and the
1:05.3	Black Messiah, the story of Fred Hampton, the 21 year old chairman of the Illinois Black
1:09.5	Panther Party and his assassination in 1969 by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI.
1:15.3	The movie is unlike almost anything ever to come out of Hollywood.
1:18.9	It has been widely hailed by critics since its release in February on HBO Max and a few
1:24.0	theaters that were open at the time.
1:26.2	Judas' half dozen Oscar nominations are the Big E's, Best Picture, two best supporting
1:31.4	actor nominations for Daniel Kaluia, who's already won a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice
1:36.2	Award in that category for playing Fred Hampton, for LeKief Standfield as William O'Neill,
1:41.9	the FBI informant who rats out Hampton, or also nominations for Best Cinematography,
1:46.9	Best Original Song, and last but not least, Best Original Screenplay, which brings us to
1:52.5	our episode today on which we have two of the four guys behind the script, the two who
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