Dead Eyes
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Actor/comedian Connor Ratliff (The Chris Gethard Show, UCB, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) embarks upon a quest to solve a very stupid mystery that has haunted him for two decades: why Tom Hanks fired him from a small role in the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band Of Brothers.
Available episodes
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Feb 25, 2021
20 - The Big Zielinski
In the Season 2 finale, Connor talks to Band of Brothers Lead Writer and Supervising Producer Erik Jendresen, and learns the truth about Episode 5 "Crossroads" and Private John S. Zielinski.
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Feb 11, 2021
19 - Young Tom Hankses
Connor talks to three actors who shared roles with Tom Hanks when they were kids: Elijah Wood (Radio Flyer), David Moscow (Big), and Michael Conner Humphreys (Forrest Gump).
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Jan 28, 2021
18 - Saturday Tonight Live
After failing to book Jimmy Fallon on the podcast, Connor instead talks to his good friend, comedian Alex Song-Xia, whose brief time as a writer on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ended before her contract was up.
Also, Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic and Band of Brothers aficionado Alan Sepinwall weighs in on the character Lieutenant George Rice, played by Fallon in the epic mini-series. His new podcast Too Long; Didn’t Watch is now available
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Jan 14, 2021
17 - Lacking Warmth
Connor talks to the creators/writers/directors/producers of Freaks and Geeks Judd Apatow and Paul Feig about failure, success and uncomfortable encounters with famous people.
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Dec 31, 2020
16 - Castaways
As 2020 comes to a close, Connor finds himself inexplicably stranded on a desert island with a cassette player and tapes containing deleted scenes from the first 15 episodes of the show.
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Dec 17, 2020
15 - Marvel's Agents of C.A.S.T.I.N.G.
In an attempt to understand why neither he nor Tom Hanks has yet to book a role in a superhero project, Connor assembles an Avengers-style team of actors from Marvel films & TV shows with a diverse range of casting "superpowers." Featuring Zach Cherry (triumphed over Connor to win the role of "Street Vendor" in Spider-Man: Homecoming) Chris Gethard (cut from Iron Man 3) and Lea Thompson (lead human actor in the very first Marvel feature)!
* Chris Gethard's "I Got Cut From Iron Man 3"
* Lea's Howard the Duck tweet
* One of Lea Thompson's Burger King Commericals
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Dec 3, 2020
14 - Thinking About Don't Think Twice Again
Connor tries to understand what made him right for a small role in writer-director Mike Birbiglia’s 2016 critically-acclaimed feature film Don’t Think Twice.
Co-star Tami Sagher recounts filming an excruciating scene while Connor observed. Ira Glass, the film’s producer, tries to understand what Connor is trying to do with this podcast.
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Nov 19, 2020
13 - Hilary & Robert & Punch & Judy
Connor tracks down his former agent, Hilary Gagan, as well as her former assistant, Robert Styles, who both reveal conflicting memories about his Band of Brothers firing.
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Nov 5, 2020
12 - Pathetic Man
Connor accepts a non-speaking role with a memorable name, then experiences a series of minor humiliations. Featuring Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy, Jurassic World, Crashing).
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Oct 22, 2020
11 - Piss Siblings
Connor books an unusual role on HBO's VEEP after over a decade in the show biz wilderness, with some help from his friend Shannon O'Neill (How To Fix A Drug Scandal, Broad City). Featuring VEEP's Matt Walsh and Tony Hale.
The Chris Gethard Show episode where Shannon spills the beans.
The Chris Gethard Show clip where Connor has to eat vegetables.
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Oct 15, 2020
Season 2 Prologue (w/ Ira Glass)
Season 2 fast approaches. Connor seeks sage wisdom and advice from This American Life creator Ira Glass.
Dead Eyes Season 2 premieres on Oct 22.
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Jul 9, 2020
10 - Moose/Nixon
In the Season 1 finale, Connor connects with two of the actors he almost worked with on Band of Brothers: Ron Livingston (Office Space, Search Party) and Stephen McCole (Rushmore, Outlander).
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Jun 25, 2020
09 - Neighbors & Pals
Seth Rogen clears up a misunderstanding and reveals his surprising connection to Connor, sharing multiple stories of show business disappointment & failure.
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Apr 9, 2020
08 - Show-Me State
When a global pandemic hits, Connor loses another show business job and moves back in with his parents.
Featuring Ryan Miller from the band Guster, plus Bill and Gretta Ratliff.
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Mar 12, 2020
07 - GTM
Connor chases another phantom, one that went missing from the 2019 romantic comedy Isn't It Romantic between its filming and its release. It's a self-contained casting mystery, and he only has one episode to solve it.
The truth is out there.
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Mar 5, 2020
06 - Ryan Johnson's Star Wars Prequel Rumors
EPISODE VI
RYAN JOHNSON'S STAR WARS PREQUEL RUMORS
It is a period of hope: the late 1990s!
A student at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts, CONNOR RATLIFF is tasked with creating a web page to promote himself as an actor.
This leads to the unlikely creation of a fictional character with a name that would someday become legendary in ways that even a Jedi master could not have predicted.
Meanwhile, half a world away, veteran stage actor HOLMES OSBORNE's career is ascendant, thanks to an opportunity given to him by TOM HANKS in his feature film debut as writer/director, That Thing You Do! Soon enough, he would be revealed to the world as DONNIE DARKO'S FATHER.
Little do they know that a young man named RIAN JOHNSON has just begun a 7-year journey to make a movie of his own, the success of which would set in motion a chain of events that would transform him into one of the most powerful filmmakers in the galaxy...
More than two decades later, a mysterious podcast reveals…
Feb 20, 2020
05 - The Last Remains of the Dodo
Singer-songwriter Aimee Mann learns how she unwittingly provided the soundtrack to Connor's entire Band of Brothers experience.
Listen to Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo and the rest of Aimee's catalogue on Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever else you get music.
Follow Aimee on Twitter @aimeemann
Watch Tom Hanks present at the Academy Awards as Toy Story's Woody.
Episode Transcript
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Feb 13, 2020
04 - Any Questions?
Connor imagines an alternate timeline with the help of Saturday Night Live alumn Bobby Moynihan, who played a major role in one of Tom Hanks's late-career triumphs: David S. Pumpkins.
Watch the Haunted Elevator sketch that gave the world David S. Pumpkins.
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Feb 6, 2020
03 - The Replacement
Connor doesn't trust his memory.
Actor, comedian, and showrunner of Adam Ruins Everything Adam Conover explains that, without a doubt, Connor is misremembering the details of his experience on Band of Brothers. At least some of them.
Award-winning illustrator Maëlle Doliveux critiques an autobiographical comic that Connor wrote and drew about being fired.
Connor has an overdue conversation with actor Adam Sims, his replacement on Band Of Brothers. The two discover their respective stories share more in common than they'd anticipated.
For Maelle's full analysis of Connor's comic, check out the Dead Eyes YouTube channel.
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Jan 30, 2020
02 - Tristesse
A 10-year-old Connor acts onstage in a 1985 production of Oliver! and has a seemingly disastrous first television interview. Years later, a 17-year-old Connor stars in a production of Ordinary People across from Emmy-winning actor Jon Hamm (Mad Men, The Town, Baby Driver), who was a senior in college at the time.
Connor and Jon look back on their time working together and recount their highs and lows in various audition rooms.
Plus, a recreation of Connor's Band of Brothers re-audition scene featuring Nicole Drespel (UCB, Broad City, 30 Rock), and a candid conversation about the audition process with a real New York City casting director.
* See 10-year-old Connor's appearance on KRCG-TV's Showtime.
Episode Transcript
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Jan 23, 2020
01 - He's Having Second Thoughts
In the year 2000, actor Connor Ratliff is fired by Tom Hanks from the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers for supposedly having "dead eyes". Two decades later, Connor talks about it with his friends D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place, Barry) and Zach Woods (Silicon Valley, The Office, Avenue 5).
Episode Transcript
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Jan 10, 2020
Coming Soon: Dead Eyes
A quest to solve a very stupid mystery that has haunted comedian Connor Ratliff for two decades: Why Tom Hanks fired him from a small role in the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band Of Brothers.
Subscribe today and catch the first episode, launching 1/23!