In Front of Ira

Don’t you love New York in the fall? Torsten and Sabrina give each other bouquets of pencils as they discuss how neoliberalism is ruining book shop owner Kathleen Kelly’s life in this Nora Ephron romcom from the late 90s (neoliberalism also goes by the name of Joe Fox, F-o-x). Of course this stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, and there’s a lot of Starbucks references. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The Ernst Lubitsch movie “Shop Around the Corner” on which this is based: https://archive.org/details/the-shop-around-the-corner-1940-ernst-lubitsch – The age of AOL: https://time.com/3857628/aol-1985-history Welcome to “In Front of Ira,” the podcast in which historians, friends, and lovers… of romcoms Sabrina Mittermeier and Torsten Kathke discuss how the romantic comedy genre has evolved, what it can tell us about society, and whether this movie is worth watching. Find us @infrontofira on various social media apps and drop us a line at [email protected] Our music is “Night in Venice” by Kevin MacLeod.

“This is called flirting, Amelia!” Sabrina and Torsten welcome Marisa Kabas to a special episode about a viral real-life romcom: the “Chicken Shop Date” of Amelia Dimoldenberg and Andrew Garfield. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Amelia and Andrew at the Golden Globes: https://youtu.be/E6O0wq6GNn8?si=OJ0hcR0IXDlTDtvr – The titular Chicken Shop Date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFS5vxYlfY8&pp=ygUkYW1lbGlhIGFuZHJldyBnYXJmaWVsZCBmaXJzdCBtZWV0aW5n – Nicholas Quah at Vulture on the Andrew Garfield Chicken Shop Date: https://www.vulture.com/article/amelia-dimoldenberg-will-chicken-shop-date-forever.html – Andrew Garfield kissing Stephen Colbert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbyhbLR0u0A Welcome to “In Front of Ira,” the podcast in which historians, friends, and lovers… of romcoms Sabrina Mittermeier and Torsten Kathke discuss how the romantic comedy genre has evolved, what it can tell us about society, and whether this movie is worth watching. Find us @infrontofira on various social media apps and drop us a line at [email protected] Find Marisa at @marisakabas on Bluesky and Threads, and at https://www.thehandbasket.co Our music is “Night in Venice” by Kevin MacLeod.

Torsten and Sabrina join Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney for a destination wedding in Australia featuring butt-grabbing and Shakespearean hijinks. Hopefully, no one needs to send a helicopter to save them from drowning in a movie that should work so much better than it does. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The fake dating rumors surrounding the movie’s leads: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/sydney-sweeney-admits-to-actively-fueling-glen-powell-dating-rumors – The Netflix show “Everything Sucks” featuring Sweeney: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7078710 Welcome to “In Front of Ira,” the podcast in which historians, friends, and lovers… of rom-coms Sabrina Mittermeier and Torsten Kathke discuss how the romantic comedy genre has evolved, what it can tell us about society, and whether this movie is worth watching. Find us @infrontofira on social media and drop us a line at [email protected] Our music is “Night in Venice” by Kevin MacLeod.

Sabrina and Torsten head to Seattle (or is that Tacoma?) to join an all-star teen heart throb cast from the late 1990s take on Shakespeare. Plus, Allison Janney is there. Yes, they watched “10 Things I Hate About You,” counted all the things and noticed… hey… your eyes have a little green in them. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The soundtrack for the movie: https://www.discogs.com/de/master/171251-Various-10-Things-I-Hate-About-You-Music-From-The-Motion-Picture – The death of Heath Ledger: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/heath-ledger-death-stephen-gaghan-script-blink-bed-malcolm-gladwell-book-1235838795/ Welcome to “In Front of Ira,” the podcast in which historians, friends, and lovers… of rom-coms Sabrina Mittermeier and Torsten Kathke discuss how the romantic comedy genre has evolved, what it can tell us about society, and whether this movie is worth watching. Find us @infrontofira on social media and drop us a line at [email protected] Our music is “Night in Venice” by Kevin MacLeod.