Cobra Kai and the Best TV/Movie ’80s Girlfriends

BUCK: Clay, also I have to give some props, you said that Mrs. Travis liked Cobra Kai, and it kind of jogged my memory because I was like, “Wait a second. I trust Mrs. Travis’s opinion on this.” You, I don’t know, “Mr. I Like Hamilton,” but Mrs. Travis, I trust. I went back. Cobra Kai is amazing. It’s a very well-done show for what it is and you can really have the whole family watch it, pretty much. A little bit of cursing but that’s it.

CLAY: Yeah, 100%. So my wife watches a lot of shows, and so I use her as the sounding board, and she said, “If you like Karate Kid,” which I did, “you will love Cobra Kai.” So on Friday I was like, “You know what? It’s a long week. I’m just gonna kick back and watch a show.” So I watched all of season 1 of Cobra Kai on Friday.

BUCK: You hadn’t seen it before?

CLAY: No.

BUCK: Oh, my gosh. I watched season 3. I binge-watched season 3 this season, didn’t even coordinate this.

CLAY: No, I watched season 1, I’m all-in for seasons 2, 3, and 4 now. When football season gets near the end, I have a little bit of free time.

BUCK: Was LaRusso the bad guy? It changes up a little bit in your head. Your head space changes a little bit.

CLAY: Johnny is an incredible actor in this show. It’s really funny, well done. If you liked Karate Kid at all, it’s a good one to watch with your kids. I’m watching with my kids. As you said, some language. But in general, not too bad.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

CLAY: Buck, as we went to finish off the second hour there, a shocking revelation from inside of the Clay and Buck staff relating to one Ali on our staff. Ali, is your mic turned on? Can you come on and share what you shared with us? Buck may not have even heard this story. You know the story? I didn’t know it. So we were talking about —

ALI: When I was really little, the cool kid on the block told me that, after we saw the movie, from that day forward, my name — which is Alice — was going to be “Ali with an I” because of The Karate Kid.

CLAY: Because Ali is the love interest — Buck, that is amazing — thank you, Ali. By the way, Ali is a producer on the show. She’s been with Rush before us for —

BUCK: — 20 years? 20-years plus?

CLAY: — 20-plus years. We have an incredible staff. I don’t think we give them enough credit. This same staff — for those of you out there — stayed with us when we came in in June and worked out preparing all the “Best of” with Rush. But it’s a testament to Rush and the staff that he had created that they all wanted to stay and continue to work on the show that he had built, and Ali’s a big part of that. By the way, Ali on Karate Kid, Buck, best-looking girlfriend for any movie that grew up watching. Can you beat Ali on Karate Kid?

BUCK: Elisabeth Shue, who went on to be a pretty well-known actress. She was actually in The Boys, the Amazon show about the superheroes. I think it’s called The Boys, right? I saw it. I just forget.

CLAY: Leaving Las Vegas. She was the love interest of Nicolas Cage.

BUCK: She was in The Saint, which is a weird movie but kind of underrated with Val Kilmer from back in the day for those of you who really appreciate nineties cinema.

CLAY: Also, the brother of Andrew “Billy” Shue, who was from —

BUCK: Melrose Place.

CLAY: — Melrose Place, back in the day, the spin-off of 90210 that Aaron Spelling made a billion dollars off of.

BUCK: And if you really want your brain to explode, he is on the bench in The Karate Kid as one of the extras who looks on during the tournament, Elisabeth Shue’s brother.

CLAY: I did not know that.

BUCK: I got the wild movie trivia going on now.

CLAY: So, can you beat Ali on Karate Kid? Mercedes… Remember the movie License to Drive?

BUCK: I feel like I’m just gonna get in trouble here.

CLAY: By who you pick?

BUCK: I’m gonna get in trouble. I’m gonna get in trouble.

CLAY: Oh, you’re worried about girlfriends now?

BUCK: Not that.

CLAY: 1980s. You were a kid.

BUCK: That’s true. That’s true. I was a big fan of the lady who gets the guy into trouble in Caddyshack, if you know what I’m talking about.

CLAY: Yeah. I liked her. Here’s a couple that I’ll give you” Princess Leia in the Jabba the Hutt bikini may have sent many men on their way to adolescence. I knew I was heterosexual when I saw Princess Leia in the gold bikini in Jabba the Hutt’s lap. That was in Return of the Jedi, for those of you out there. I would also say, again, Karate Kid is at the apex there.

You can also treat Buck and I. It’s tough to beat Ali in The Karate Kid. There are still a lot of people… I had a Halloween party recently, and one of the couples was Daniel LaRusso and Ali ’cause she has that cheerleader skirt that she wears for much of the movie. Then you also got Saved by the Bell. A lot of people out there are big fans, if you remember.

BUCK: Kelly Kapowski.

CLAY: Tiffani Amber Thiessen.

BUCK: Since we’re going down this pathway and some of my radio listeners for a long time know, she did end up marrying international kajillionaire superstar Justin Timberlake. I was a big Jessica Biel, a Seventh Heaven fan back in the day.

CLAY: She’s around your age, though.

BUCK: Yeah.

CLAY: I liked Neve Campbell. They’re doing a new Scream movie. I was a big fan of Neve Campbell back in the day. She was around my own age. Drew Barrymore. I was a big fan of Drew Barrymore back in the day. But when you pick somebody around your same age, I understand why your girlfriends would be upset with you, frankly.

BUCK: I think we have to get back to saving America now, Clay.

CLAY: All right. So, I want to play this. I wanted to make sure everybody knew why Ali was Ali. I didn’t know that story, so she got it from when she was in elementary school and Karate Kid was so popular.