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No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As The Metal Bloke

June 18, 2026 • 53m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

A wide-ranging discussion exploring the career of filmmaker James Cameron through his disastrous first film Piranha 2, the surprising invention of stand-up comedy, David Bowie's early struggles and creative evolution, and the quirky world of political party naming conventions across Scandinavia. The conversation weaves together stories of creative obsession, career setbacks, superstitions, and unexpected historical connections.

James Cameron's Piranha 2 Obsession

James Cameron's directorial debut on Piranha 2 was a disaster from the start, but his obsessive dedication to the craft led him to break into the editing suite multiple times after being fired. Despite working on a B-movie about flying piranhas, Cameron's intense perfectionism and single-minded vision were already evident, from chasing clouds with the entire crew to refusing to compromise on any detail. This early failure, combined with a fever-induced hallucination of a metal skeleton emerging from fire, would ultimately lead to the creation of The Terminator and launch one of cinema's most successful careers.

  • Cameron was fired from Piranha 2 but broke into the studio multiple times at night to improve the edit
  • Producer Ovidio Asinitis wanted to be the real director but Cameron took the project too seriously
  • Cameron once took the entire crew out to sea on boats to chase and film the perfect shaped cloud
  • A first assistant director swam to shore fully clothed and quit, calling Cameron a maniac
  • During a fever in Rome after Piranha 2, Cameron had a vision of a skeleton robot crawling from fire, which became The Terminator
" This has been a long and difficult shoot, fraught by many problems. But the one thing that kept me going through it all was the certain knowledge that one day I would drive out of the gates of Pinewood and never come back here, and that you sorry bastards would all still be here. "
" If I have the choice between that piece of shit and an all black frame, I'll go with the all black frame. "

The Inventor of Stand-Up Comedy

Charlie Case, born in 1858, is credited as the first person to take the stage with the explicit purpose of telling jokes without props or costume. He became known as 'the man who talks with string' due to his lucky piece of string that he constantly fiddled with on stage. This string had evolved from a pair of black gloves he used to pick at nervously until they disintegrated into just a string, which became his security blanket for performances.

  • Charlie Case was the first person to perform stand-up comedy as we know it in the late 19th century
  • He always carried a piece of string on stage and would fully break down if he forgot it
  • The string originated from black gloves he would fiddle with until they were picked down to just string
  • Stand-up comedians were originally called 'the turn' because they performed in front of the curtain while sets were changed in vaudeville shows
" I am aware at one point in time adolf hitler was the most hated person on earth but my father added lou in between the adolf and the hitler so that's why i am different "

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