Mike Nichols Marathon 16 - What Planet Are You From? (teaser)

About this episode

The episode discusses the production challenges and thematic issues of Mike Nichols' film 'What Planet Are You From?'.

In this episode of our ongoing Mike Nichols Marathon we are entering the 21st century with his sex comedy What Planet Are You From? Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk at length about the many ways in which the production of this movie turned into a disaster, look behind the curtain to see what possibly drove Nichols to sign on to direct it and how it was unsalvageable for many reasons, the most important of which was the animosity between Nichols and the film's star and screenwriter Garry Shandling. We also talk about the film's crisis of identity as it wobbles between a sex comedy and a relationship satire but neither of these two directions show any edge or teeth, how this film looked mild and tame in the landscape of its comedic competition and much more! Tune in and enjoy! ⁠⁠Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and support us by gaining access to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons! Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head over to our website to find out more…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jakub Flasz, Randy Burrows

Topics covered

• Mike Nichols
• film production
• comedy
• relationship satire
• movie analysis

Keywords

• Mike Nichols
• Garry Shandling
• What Planet Are You From?
• sex comedy
• film disaster

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: What Planet Are You From?

More episodes of Uncut Gems Podcast

• Mike Nichols Marathon 18 - Angels in America (teaser) · June 10, 2026 · 16 min
• Episode 280 - The Blues Brothers · June 6, 2026 · 2h 38m
• Episode 279 - Revenge of the Nerds · May 30, 2026 · 2h 1m
• BONUS Tie-in 60 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Teaser) · May 27, 2026 · 16 min
• Episode 278 - Private School · May 23, 2026 · 2h 25m
• Episode 277 - Zapped! · May 16, 2026 · 2h 31m