S1E5 - 5. Groundhog Day with Caitlin Durante
...Wrestlemania!
In the latest Hand Me the Mike, host Daniella Mazzio is joined by Caitlin Durante, comedian, writer, educator, and co-host of the Bechdel Cast podcast. Together, they talk about Groundhog Day (1993), media conglomerates, the five stages of grief, the dissolution of Harold Ramis and Bill Murray's friendship, Groundhog Day's romance, Caitlin's memories of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Daniella's bad experience working a Bill Murray show at the Chicago Theatre, and of course, the scene-stealing film debut of Michael Shannon.
Caitlin Durante is a comedian, writer, educator, and co-host of the Bechdel Cast podcast.
Follow Caitlin on Instagram and learn about upcoming shows and screenwriting classes at https://www.caitlindurante.com/.
Listen to the Bechdel Cast wherever you get your podcasts, stay up to date with the podcast on Instagram, and subscribe to the Patreon ("aka Matreon") for bonus episodes at https://www.patreon.com/bechdelcast.
This is a completely free, DIY project; support is optional, but greatly appreciated.
Follow Daniella on Twitter and Instagram at @DaniellaMazzio and on Bluesky at @daniellamazzio.bsky.social.
The Hand Me the Mike theme song samples R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming."
Additional music includes Hallelujah the Hills' very generous public domain track "01 Untitled, Actual Title (Joker 1)" from the album DECK: JOKERS. Check out the band's playing card-inspired releases at: https://hallelujahthehills.bandcamp.com/.
Hand Me the Mike cover art features an illustration from Daniella and fonts designed by Steve Shanabruch as part of The Chicago Neighborhoods.
Additional audio snippets are from Groundhog Day.
This episode of Hand Me the Mike was produced by Joe Engleman and Daniella Mazzio, and edited by Daniella Mazzio.
Reviews, profiles, and interviews featured in the episode:
Harold Ramis on Fresh Air with Terry Gross: https://www.npr.org/2014/02/25/282485864/harold-ramis-on-working-at-playboy-and-writing-animal-house
Stephen Tobolowsky on Groundhog Day: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/actor-stephen-tobolowsky-recalls-how-lsquogroundhog-dayrsquo-went-from-good-to-great/
Tom Hanks was almost in Groundhog Day: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/happy-groundhog-day-heres-5-769137/
Michael Shannon's interview with The A.V. Club: https://www.avclub.com/michael-shannon-1798218507
Further reading on _Groundhog Day'_s production and the tense relationship between Ramis and Murray:
Harold Ramis in The LA Times (1993): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-12-ca-1377-story.html
Danny Rubin on writing Groundhog Day: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/08/07/how-i-wrote-the-script-for-groundhog-day-in-less-than-a-week/ and https://bigthink.com/videos/big-think-interview-with-danny-rubin/
Additional history on _Groundhog Day'_s development: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-groundhog-day-changed-dramatically-during-development/, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/04/19/comedy-first?currentPage=all, and https://variety.com/2018/film/news/groundhog-day-at-25-bill-murray-1202691391/
Uproxx on the Ramis/Murray relationship: https://uproxx.com/movies/the-story-behind-bill-murray-and-harold-ramis-21-year-rift/
Ryan Gilbey's book on Groundhog Day: https://archive.org/details/groundhogday0000gilb/mode/2up
Bill Murray and Groundhog Day: https://www.rd.com/article/why-bill-murray-hated-groundhog-day/
A comprehensive guide to Bill Murray's alleged misconduct throughout his career: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/10/everyone-who-has-publicly-accused-bill-murray-of-misconduct
Last, an unearthed short review of the Chicago Theatre show Daniella ushered (Bill Murray, Jan Vogler, and Friends):
> Bill Murray proves to an audience of beaming superfans that he has no idea what goes into curating an evening of music and selections read from a slate of his favorite literary heavyweights. Seriously, what would prompt Murray to read passages from Hemingway and Twain that feature prominent misogyny and racial slurs? Laziness? Bad shrimp? We may never know the inner workings of this self-proclaimed folk hero’s mind, but what is clear is that “New Worlds” suffers from a lack of outside perspective. It’s easy to read a loaded piece of literature when you’re a wealthy, white, beloved character actor, and there are very few pieces of literature that would ever have the power to make you feel unwelcome in a space. So, he proceeds to make us all unwelcome; he reads choice selections from Hemingway that reduce women to breast size, and the most offensively broad, imbecilic interpretations of Black characters from “Huckleberry Finn.” Murray asks us to find poignance buried somewhere in his mountain of white male gaze. The most that I, and my fellow patrons who left long before the show was over, could muster was: LOL NO. -Maggie Wagner
Ireland