Let's Talk - Cobra Kai

QuickBooks - Sensei Kreese (2019)

December 25, 2020 Just Curious Media Episode 37
Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
QuickBooks - Sensei Kreese (2019)
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Show Notes Transcript

Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
Episode 37: QuickBooks - Sensei Kreese (2019)

Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez break down the Quickbooks "Happy Business" commercials featuring Sensei Kreese (Martin Kove) and his new dojo, Koala Kai.

Special bonus commercial - Sensei Kreese - NAPA Auto Parts.

Original Episode: S02E26

Recorded: 11-17-20
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

Listen:
https://LetsTalkCobraKai.buzzsprout.com/

Watch:
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Hosts:
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https://www.instagram.com/SalvadorLosAngeles/

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Jason Connell:

Welcome to this curious media. This is let's talk Cobra Kai. I'm Jason Connell.

Sal Rodriguez:

And I'm Sal Rodriguez.

Jason Connell:

All right, Sal, here we are back again for another special episode.

Sal Rodriguez:

Nice. This was especially exciting because I just found out about our subject matter. I just found out about it in the last few days. So it's it's still new and fresh to me.

Jason Connell:

Yes, it is. It's an interesting one and something we have not covered yet. And that is QuickBooks commercials. What quick commercials, you know, the old Intuit software, I've actually used QuickBooks forever. But today we're covering QuickBooks. They did a whole happy business line. Yes, happy business line of commercials. And they featured one since a crease. Nice. And they came out in late 2019. And I saw this right after it aired and was like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. And then didn't even think twice about doing a show on it until we've gotten to these special episodes as we draw closer and closer to season three, dropping on Netflix, January 8, but I made me go back and think about this, like, oh my gosh, that was a really clever commercial. So I watched it again and realize it was a lot more times than I even thought there was and there was more than one commercial sale.

Sal Rodriguez:

And stay tuned today because we have a special bonus aside from the QuickBooks commercials. A special bonus commercial. This one came out of left field for me too. So we're gonna talk about QuickBooks and a special bonus and then in a subsequent episode, more Cove commercials as I'm calling them

Jason Connell:

to good line the coke commercials. So on this whole QuickBooks happy business commercials, I noticed that they also did a Ghostbusters one. And they featured Annie Potts who had that great character on Ghostbusters. And there may have been more than one as well, Sal. But I watched the first one. And it's pretty funny. And I love the way that they're doing these kind of 80s movies tying into their whole QuickBooks helping everybody do small business better.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, here on Let's Talk Cobra Kai, we recently talked about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, starring Danny DeVito. And I know QuickBooks had a series of commercials starring Danny DeVito as well.

Jason Connell:

I did not know that. Wow. Okay. I'll check that out. I also love the fact that they got crease this super villain from the Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. I mean, yes, he's super charismatic. But Sal, he's a bad guy.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, that is an interesting choice. They got a bad guy, quote, unquote, bad guy to be the spokesman for their software. So very interesting strategy. It pays off for us the fans of Cobra Kai and karate kid were excited. Definitely an interesting choice by a by a major software manufacturer.

Jason Connell:

Absolutely. All right. So let's jump in. There's actually for commercials. The first one's 30 seconds long, or the other four are 15 seconds. So they're different. But the first one I would say is kind of the main one. And that's the one I first saw and remember,

Sal Rodriguez:

yeah, you know, you open up the doorway for one and then before you know it, you're watching all five. And so yeah, to me, it almost became a series in and of itself. Like I wanted the next one to drop. I wanted the next one to drop. I was enjoying these little 32nd and 15 second snippets into the private world of Sensei crease.

Jason Connell:

Me too. So me too. Alright, so here we go. We open at a karate dojo full of kids. And we've got white GIS and sell everyone's got a green and blue belt on except for since a crease. And there's another sense I often the side.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, I assumed that was another sense. They just because he looked a little older and he looked like he might have had a black belt on if I'm not mistaken. So yeah, the two senseis having the black belts and all these young students. Blue and green are those low ranks. They're adjacent

Jason Connell:

I would say they're in the middle. Okay, so yeah, green and blue are respectable belts. It's not like a white, orange or yellow but maybe it's just a good color combination because every kid was one of the other

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, and if you notice in the background as well, I don't know if you caught this I'm sure you caught this you catch everything in the background on the wall. A nice day before all Valley under 18 karate tournament poster up on the wall.

Jason Connell:

I saw it and it was absolutely the one from the film that was December 19 The crazy Wednesday from back in the day and yeah, that was it framed and all of its glory. So the same one that Mr. Miyagi points to and the Karate Kid in which since a crease agrees to not let the Cobra guys kill Daniel until they fight at that fateful tournament. So yeah, nice homage right out of the gate. And I also didn't mention creases the only one in a Blackie he's in his standard Cobra Kai, gi if you will, although we didn't see the back. So we don't know what was on the back of it and say Cobra Kai, but you know cut off sleeves looking very since a crease esque

Sal Rodriguez:

you know, it's funny that you mentioned it because I'm so used to seeing crease in his black gi Yeah, I didn't even notice all his students have white gi so it's almost like a Cobra Kai Karate Kid mash up here.

Jason Connell:

Right? Well, there was a scene and the Karate Kid when they went to the dojo, and everyone was in white. He's, if you recall, when Daniel went into the dojo and nearly joined in, like I always say, could have changed history had he stayed and become a Cobra Kai then and not in the Karate Kid Part Three spoiler alert, but they were wearing white keys then. So it's not unprecedented to have white geese and Cobra Kai, but I just thought it was funny how they chose it. Hey, it's softer, it's lighter. It feels less vicious. I get it, but he was the only one wearing his standard black.

Sal Rodriguez:

Okay, so now that you mentioned it, so when Daniel in the original karate kid goes to visit Cobra Kai, he visits the first time by himself and they're wearing the white keys that he visits later on with Miyagi and are they wearing white keys there too.

Jason Connell:

I believe they're always wearing white gese at the Cobra Kai dojo,

Sal Rodriguez:

okay, so it's almost like the black keys are their competitive keys,

Jason Connell:

much like Cobra Kai, the show when they came out of the bowels of the stadium chanting Cobra Kai, and they had the great GIS on as well as the black GIS.

Sal Rodriguez:

I see. Okay, I got it. And also Yeah, you give the students the white GIS definitely makes them look a little less menacing, like he is since a crease but he is not teaching Cobra Kai students necessarily No.

Jason Connell:

So now we see two kids sparring, and no contact Sal.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah. And this boy, we're gonna see him again in this commercial. He almost gets kicked in the face by young female students. And this is where we start to see the kinder, gentler side of crease because the female student delivers that kick. And crease gives his encouragement. He says beautiful, but support the leg he's offering legitimate. You know, he's he's not yelling at him. No, he's not. He's not being mean to them as he would be to his Cobra Kai students. So this is yeah, a different side of crease that we get to see. Yeah, very

Jason Connell:

uncreased. Like he's looking at technique. He's not looking for the kill shot. So we've never seen this crease instructor class before.

Sal Rodriguez:

You know, I always am the first to say, and this is an old saying, no one is all good. And no one is all evil. Everybody's got that one side of them, you know, one way or another. So it's definitely a lot of fun to see the side of crease that no one has ever seen anywhere whether in Cobra Kai or Karate Kid. You never see this this side of crease if you've never seen it. So definitely a treat for the fam.

Jason Connell:

So now we cut to another shot of crease. And I like in the background. So now you see the sensei crease standee which was in the Karate Kid one and three, if you recall, and three, he comes out from behind it and scares Daniel because he was supposed to be dead. But I love they brought that Prop in as two kids are kind of fighting out of focus as he comes in, what's his next line?

Sal Rodriguez:

So you always see things that I don't see I did not see that cardboard cutout. I'm gonna watch the commercial again and look for that. So John crease played by Martin Cove looking into the camera. When I started Cobra Kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now I practice a different philosophy. Is that sort of a little shout out to Terry silver there maybe? Do you think that's what that meant?

Jason Connell:

I don't know if it was silver, per se. I just think he's mocking the fact that he was a little intense. He's always been intense. And the reason for the intensity is because he had a lack of control over his business. No, I don't think it was directly itself or I think it's just more of a funny slide at his character because

Sal Rodriguez:

we're dealing with a software that has to do with the books has to do with finances, right. And then we have Terry silver as the primary what supporter and shareholder of a corporate car if you will, so I kind of thought it was sort of a throw to that, but I could be wrong.

Jason Connell:

I think he's taking it too far.

Sal Rodriguez:

I'm trying to find too much meaning.

Jason Connell:

I mean, in credit card three, he comes in and he's got unpaid bills, and everything's going to crap, if you will, but that's because he was dejected and he had checked out for the most part crease was always kind of on top of his game. Even before we knew about Terry silver and looked like Chris ran a pretty tight Dojo had tons of students. When you go back and Cobra Kai and see young Johnny peeking through the window crease already had a lot of students even pre Johnny so I am of the mindset that crease ran a good business. And he's just making fun of the fact that that's what made him intense.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, also very funny when you compare it to Cobra Kai, I believe there's a scene in there where Chris says to Johnny something about straightening out the books, right? Yeah,

Jason Connell:

exactly. So he saw Johnny was doing wrong. Johnny was doing terrible. He could also do these commercials.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, you know, it's almost like here we have Cobra Kai doing a commercial for QuickBooks. But in Cobra Kai, it's almost like there's a commercial for QuickBooks almost subliminally especially once you see this so yeah. Okay, fine. So since a crease is on top of the books, and I'm going to imagine now that the Cobra Kai Dojo has always been a solvent business. Yes.

Jason Connell:

So then Chris goes on to Say QuickBooks helps me get paid. He's excited because while he's talking you're starting to see shots of his phone and screenshots from the app of QuickBooks which I'm going to get into in a second but he gets paid there's like$3,000 pops up it also says receipt a school just paid you$3,000 increase look shocked now Sal that's not a cheat payment from whomever that was that must have been for I hope, a lot of classes

Sal Rodriguez:

well, when it says receipt a school does that mean his dojo or does that mean like a receipt of high school or something like that?

Jason Connell:

You know, I don't know that this starts to get into the nuances of these commercials and the screenshots which I'll dissect further, really unsure there. How that goes,

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, okay. Because the in the original Karate Kid Cobra Kai dojo was in North Hollywood, but then later on in the Cobra K show, Johnny Lawrence opens up Cobra con receita. Yeah. So one thing about the Cobra universe is they're always throwing us back to the Karate Kid universe and little nuggets here and there. So every time I see anything, Cobra Kai related, and I see the word receipt, I'm going well, wait a second, wait a second receita. You know, I want to figure it out.

Jason Connell:

Well, increase also says manage cash flow and run payroll. So now I'm looking at the screenshots. And so it says 941 I'm assuming that's am Tuesday, June 6, that pops up on screen. So I had to kind of poke around so you know me, I gotta get to the bottom of something. And if I'm going to see a Tuesday connected to June sixth, it's not 2020. That's gonna fall on a Saturday. It wasn't 2019 That would have fallen on a Thursday, we'd have to go back to 2017 for this date to exist. I don't know. Seems like a flaw there.

Sal Rodriguez:

So in other words, when they chose the date, it was just sort of arbitrary.

Jason Connell:

Exactly. This is not the first time in the Cobra Kai Karate Kid world. This has happened.

Sal Rodriguez:

That's true. That's true. Who's who's deciding the dates here?

Jason Connell:

Can I just be a coordinator on the sidelines to the date checker, the fact checker.

Sal Rodriguez:

That date doesn't work for us.

Jason Connell:

That tournament would not fall on a Wednesday, it would not be this crowded. Let's move to Saturday, folks. Anyway, small thing I thought it was worth pointing out. If you're going to put it up there on the screen. I'm going to look it up and I'm going to fact check it. And there's also a payroll for $1,000. I guess Chris has made four grand. Hey, he's doing pretty good. He's got a dojo full of students pain students. I bet. So he's off to a good start. Well, not

Sal Rodriguez:

only that, what appears to be sort of a co sensei. So yeah, this business is pretty much thriving right now.

Jason Connell:

Yeah. So now Chris walks by trophies and sow. There it was, and all of its glory. A 1983. Trophy.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, wait, are you saying that we see the all 83 all Valley trophy on that on top of those cubby holes?

Jason Connell:

I can't confirm or deny that it was the all Valley but I saw 1983 Maybe on two but definitely one bigger one. And Sal that very well. Could have been Johnny Lawrence's at three. All Valley. We're not sure. But let's just assume that it is.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, because you know what I'm thinking if if you follow the Karate Kid movies in after what went down the beginning of karate get to when they have the altercation in the parking lot. I think if I were Johnny Lawrence, I would have immediately went to the dojo and snagged my 83 championship trophy while Chris was recovering from his bloodied knuckles.

Jason Connell:

Yeah, that's true. And maybe Johnny also has his 82 championships somewhere safe. Let's hope so there was also a third place trophy there. So again, that could have been newer we don't know it didn't say a year I couldn't make out the year. But it's nice to see that crease is happy or at least willing to have anything beyond the first place trophy. Because again, he smashed Johnny second place trophy probably hates anything that's not a winner, a champion. But there was third place so hey, no increase. Now. I probably have some consolation trophies. He seems like he's really turned a new leaf.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, this is almost like a parallel universe crease right here.

Jason Connell:

Totally. And now he says this line that just kills it for me. Because this is kind of a joke. Now. We're all in on it. But go ahead, Sal take it away.

Sal Rodriguez:

While he goes in front of the I'm not gonna call it a trophy case. It was essentially cubby holes, right cubby holes with the trophies on top of them. So it continues on after he says Manage cashflow, and run payroll. And now I'm back on top and you're thinking Oh, holy cow, Cobra Kai is back on top. And he says now I'm back on top with koala Kai. What? Koala Kai.

Jason Connell:

It's so good. There's a great shot of these kids and their GIS and they spin around to show the back and sell describe the logo.

Sal Rodriguez:

It's actually a very nice logo. I did a freeze frame and check it out. It's the black outline of a koala bear in a tree On a branch Now the interesting thing is is is if you compare a koala to a cobra obviously the koalas you know just seems kind of dainty but you know what it was actually wasn't a bad design. It didn't make the koala look to what is it? Soft? No, no cartoony? Yeah, it was actually a pretty decent logo. You know what if you were to name a dojo koala Kai, this was a pretty nice design.

Jason Connell:

Yeah, no, it's really sharp. Well done. Whoever came up with koala chi very clever and funny and believable. And yes, this is like an all universe that since a crease is now running a beautiful Dojo called koala chi with these young innocent children hilarious.

Sal Rodriguez:

And now it cuts to crease reacting to a different female student I say different this isn't the female in the beginning who threw the head kick at the young man in the beginning right different female here this one has dark hair. Delivering a punch to the to the boy this is the same boy yeah, now. So in the beginning, he's getting kicked by a girl now he's getting almost punched by a girl. But then crease reacts. And he says more mercy.

Jason Connell:

Crazy I should also point out like right there next to the boy and girl there's a huge overstuffed koala with a black headband on and so but yeah, we've never heard crease utter these words. More mercy.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, it's almost like crease went to a like one of those weekend landmark forum self improvement seminars and just came out the other side a changed person because this is this is a different man.

Jason Connell:

Yeah, he still looks the same. So he's got that kind of look from Karate Kid all Valley. He's got the hands on the ghee in the same place. And he looks at the camera just right in that wonderful, charismatic look with his eyes that only Martin Cove can do when he plays since a crease. It's just a great ending to the commercial.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah. And then of course, at the end, we have the voiceover guy save over 40 hours a month with Intuit QuickBooks the easiest way to a happier business. Yep,

Jason Connell:

there it is. That's the main commercial, I would say the koala Kai commercial. That brings since a crease done by Martin Cove, to the little screen. This is a national commercial that came out in 2019. So we're in the midst of Cobra Kai Cobra Kai comes out in 2018. You know, this comes out after Season Two drops. So a pretty big deal. And it shows you the power that Karate Kid Cobra Kai has the recognition that this wonderful character has. And I love it. I mean, I'm glad they chose him. It was a great choice odd. But mechs are funny. And like you I want to see more of them. And we're about to do so.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, let me share this with you, Jason. And this is absolutely true. I believe at this time, Mr. Martin Cove will be rolling in the residuals. Because as I was preparing for today's show, literally, as I'm preparing for today's show, I get a text message from my girlfriend who is currently in central California. She sends me a text message. Just wanted to let you know Martin Cove is doing QuickBooks commercials in case you didn't know it. So she texted me letting me know. So she saw a commercial today. So this thing is still running. She

Jason Connell:

didn't know that we're doing an episode tonight about the QuickBooks commercials.

Sal Rodriguez:

She had no idea was so coincidental. I told her I said as a matter of fact, we're talking about that on today's show. So yeah, very, very coincidental. And very interesting. Because yeah, these commercials at this point are over a year old. Right. Wow. But yeah, but they're still running.

Jason Connell:

I bet it was the main one as well. Yeah, to

Sal Rodriguez:

our listeners, if you were to see just one commercial. This is the one this is the one that we just talked about. This is the commercial to see the other ones sort of piggyback on this commercial and

Jason Connell:

they're shorter. So they're immediately it's like one set shot. They don't move around the dojo much like the first one did, but they're still fun. And we're gonna jump into number two now. So we open at koala Kai dojo, we'll just call it that because now we know the framework in which we're living. And we're on a bench and we see crease, and Stephanie shus talk. And she is a real person. And she's part of the fire hot yoga is kind of her company that pops up on screen. But I looked her up Sal, a legitimate Yoga expert. Yes. And

Sal Rodriguez:

check out her connections to Cobra Kai right here. And now. Yes, Stephanie is an actual yoga instructor. She's with fire and ice yoga. Now I don't know if they changed the name for the commercial, or somebody input the wrong words. But yeah, she's with fire and ice yoga. It has locations in downtown La Hacienda Heights. And no, not receita but North Hollywood.

Jason Connell:

Nice. I also liked that it's fire and ice because that was an episode of Cobra Kai. Nice. That was season two, episode three. When they had the big San Fernando Valley Fair.

Sal Rodriguez:

Oh, are you talking about Valley fest? Valley fest?

Jason Connell:

That was it.

Sal Rodriguez:

I remember Valley fest because I got I wish we had a valley fest. I mean, now it's a whole different world. But believe me growing up, you left the Valley for anything exciting. Believe me, there wasn't a whole lot of exciting things in the San Fernando Valley. But still in the San Fernando Valley is of course, Universal Studios Hollywood, not very far from where I'm sitting right now.

Jason Connell:

That's true. So much like in Cobra Kai, Sal, I gotta ask is koala car sharing this space with this Yoga expert?

Sal Rodriguez:

See, there you go. This is almost a throwback to the episode of Cobra Kai, when the yoga class starts there in the dojo. And of course, Johnny's not excited about it. But if it's not a throwback, if it's not a tip of the hat to that episode, interesting that they kind of threw this random yoga person in there as a personality Almost. Almost. What was the point of this

Jason Connell:

when we bring on Martin Cove, and we're lucky enough to have him on the show. We're gonna ask him that and 1000 other things now.

Sal Rodriguez:

And did you notice this? Jason? I know you did. But this is the first chance we get to see the actual logo up on the wall. I'm getting

Jason Connell:

to that sounds like Go ahead. Oh, yeah.

Sal Rodriguez:

I loved it. I loved it. I couldn't believe it. It's like you're watching something surreal. It is the koala Kai logo up on the wall. Yeah. strike first. strike hard. Hug. Office. So

Jason Connell:

good. And when you say the logo, this time, the logo looks just like the Cobra Kai, the black, the yellow. I mean, the qual is different, but it's in that kind of framework. And I loved it. In fact, I couldn't see strike hard that well, but I saw it in the other commercials and then put it together. But yeah, there it is. Strike first strike hard hug. ofand. Yes, you can tell just that means that crease has changed. It's like Don Draper and Mad Men. Spoiler alert. At the very end of the series. He shifts he pivots he softens. And crease has at least in this world and the qualify world. It's a softer crease. Yeah. So when we haven't talked about was creases first line in this particular commercial. Sal, do you have it? He showed

Sal Rodriguez:

his phone to Stephanie and he says QuickBooks time tracking and saves me about three hours a week. And then on the phone we see sort of a calendar time management interface, right. And under projects. We see all Valley karate tournament. Not championship. Well this is a parallel universe so it's it's it is not the under 18 All Valley obviously some sort of other all valley right? That is a creation just for this QuickBooks universe.

Jason Connell:

And also says private lessons. Big money and private lesson sell. Oh, yeah. And receipt a tournament.

Sal Rodriguez:

Oh, so that's like a secondary tournament. Then you have the all valley which is the all of the San Fernando Valley. And then you have receded which is a region in the San Fernando Valley. So sort of a smaller tournament, I guess

Jason Connell:

like a warm up tournament, if you will. Pretty cool. I saw that. Oh my gosh, sound I have some talking points here. Yeah, let's just say I don't mean to take away the thunder from tournament con championships or vice versa. But I love that they had all Valley on their props to the commercial department. Well done all Valley karate tournament.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah. And you know what this means also, Jason, it means that after all the tragedies and scandals of Karate Kid one and two and three. Chris still has his heart set on the valley. He is still grooming a student to win the all Valley.

Jason Connell:

Koala Kai will compete and all Valley. Well. Also, before we look down on projects, let's go back up and we see welcome qualify track your time for quality. I know Joe, and it says 30 hours this week, 30 hours this pay period. Okay, so I'm looking at this a little further because it's on screen, I have a chance. And I'm looking at Chris's schedule or at least qualify schedule. And they're open Monday through Friday for eight hours. dojos open for eight hours now. I don't know. So, Monday through Friday, eight hours works when school is in session. But okay, and they're not up on the weekends, which again, not too sure about that either. Maybe there was only so much on the first screen and weekends is also open. But then the start and end times of the day are

8:30am to 5:

45pm but it says eight hours. So so that's a nine hour 15 minute window. Crease has taken an hour 15 minutes for lunch.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, or the people who select the dates are the same people selecting the timeframes, because I will tell you this, I used to take Muay Thai private Muay Thai coaching at a dojo not far from me here on Lankershim. He would have to open up the dojo when we took our class which was about two o'clock on a Tuesday or Thursday, there was no one else in there, right? He would open up the dojo for me, so he will we would have the whole place to ourselves. It was normally not open on at two o'clock during the week.

Jason Connell:

Now exactly the same with my instructor at Ameri can help keto karate pre pandemic. He does mainly privates. And then it becomes an adult class at six o'clock at night. But yeah, Chris is probably doing tons of privates kids get out of school. And then he does group classes. Because you can't charge as much for a group class as you can for one private. I mean, some of these guys are getting four or $500 an hour, for one hour with one person's more you make in a roomful of students.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, no different than if you're a personal trainer, you want to you want to do the one on ones that's going to get you more money than if you taught everybody all

Jason Connell:

at once. Yep. Now we have Stephanie's first line. Right after Chris

Sal Rodriguez:

says QuickBooks time tracking saves me over three hours a week. Now Stephanie, our new character says, What are you going to do with that time,

Jason Connell:

to which he has one of the greatest responses, and the entire QuickBooks commercial with since a crease universe,

Sal Rodriguez:

there's a little moment of pondering very, very quick beat. He says, do some crank kicks, practice head butting, take a warm bath, and then write when the logo appears on the screen into QuickBooks appears on screen. Crease as the line and I listen to this over and over because I want to make sure I heard this right. He says, asked John if he wants to catch a movie. And I wanted to make sure that he did say John He did not say Johnny, John. Okay, well, he didn't mean himself. John crease, right? I mean himself. The only other John in the Cobra Kai credit universe is of course, Johnny Lawrence. Okay, so in this QuickBooks universe, John Lawrence, and John crease are friends.

Jason Connell:

And they go see movies together. So Wow. What movies do they go see? What would they go see?

Sal Rodriguez:

Maybe like some sort of midnight showing of iron Eagle, maybe? Totally

Jason Connell:

the whole iron Eagle trilogy. They would also go see anything Jackie Chan or action based probably. But yeah, that is hilarious to see these guys together. I would love to see that.

Sal Rodriguez:

And Jason, let's go back to the Crane Kick. So he says, do some crane kicks. What? That's a Miyagi, don't move. So again, if you just compare the worlds that we're talking about here, after the 84 all Valley since a crease said I need to teach my students the Crane Kick. So he's been working on the Crane Kick all these years. Yeah, the signature move of Daniel Russo that defeated Johnny Lawrence at the 84 cents a crease has taken this move and is now put it into the koala chi education. Yeah, he's

Jason Connell:

a closet crank kicker. Who knew? No idea. Yeah, that blew me away for him to even say it acknowledge it. He pulled that straight out of Miyagi dough. De la Russo playbook. But even Miguel did a crane kick and Cobra Kai and all Valley on his first tournament, so let's not forget that it has been done in the Cobra Kai side of things.

Sal Rodriguez:

Oh, Miguel tried to do the Crane Kick. Well, he

Jason Connell:

did it. No, he did it. His first move, and all Valley and the tournament that he won. He did a crank kick right out of the gate.

Sal Rodriguez:

Holy cow.

Jason Connell:

I forgot about that. Yeah. But Chris wasn't around this pre crease.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, but no, but that implies that Johnny taught it to Miguel then right? Yes,

Jason Connell:

of course he did. And then headbutting, that was in an episode of Cobra Kai. They were all practicing that plane. Miguel comes in the office and there's blood everywhere. And I love it. I love he's thinking about this. Practice head butting, and then slips in. Take a warm bath. Yeah, something soothing. And then maybe get dressed. And go see a movie with my buddy John. Oh my gosh,

Sal Rodriguez:

a nice pleasant world with John crease as a sensei of quality.

Jason Connell:

And that is it for commercial two. Very good, great line. Great commercial 15 seconds. And now commercial three, also 15 seconds. We open at koala Kai dojo in front of the trophies again, and the cubby holes if you will, and it's crease. Stephanie, again, Stephanie shares tug of fire hot yoga, but Sal has done his research and it's Fire and Ice yoga. Right?

Sal Rodriguez:

That is correct. Yeah, that that is. So like I said, some guys, some guys screwed up, or they didn't want to have any sort of conflict of interest or anything like that. So it definitely does a fire hot yoga on the screen as opposed to fire and ice, which is the actual name. And then we hear the first dialog. Yeah, crease refers to an open laptop there next to the trophies on top of the cubby holes. And he says a live bookkeeper is helping customize QuickBooks for me. And then we cut to the computer screen and there's a lady on the screen saying okay, you're all set up. So there was a virtual assistant there on the screen. And then I know you caught all these. Right right there on the screen. Jason, what do we see on the screen there?

Jason Connell:

So we see koala chi cashflow. And the current cash balance cell is $44,100. And that's current up to October 2019. So just, you know, that's where we're at. And then cell under expenses, brought a smile to my face. Because it said$58,000 on GIS sell. I mean, I get that there's white ones very muddy and black ones for tournament fighting, but that is a ton of money and that's a lot of GIS.

Sal Rodriguez:

But if you remember when we talked about Karate Kid three Terry silver is in that sort of polyester or acrylic. Ethan's gonna be Oh, sure. Maybe these are like special, like, special silk gese. Yeah, tell our listeners who wouldn't know, I wouldn't know. How much is a GI. Let's say you I joined a martial arts studio. I am told to buy a geek. What's the average price for a geek

Jason Connell:

average price? Probably around the $100 range with a belt. Okay, right. You can spend a couple 100 Sure. You can. I've had a heavier one that might be 150. And you could also spend half 100 You could spend 50 range on maybe a lighter he but that's kind of a normal number. So I'm thinking in my mind that numbers there for comical reasons. And it made me laugh.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, hang on, Jason. Let's give them a chance here. You have to you have to add on. Either it's embroidered in or ironed on right on the back. The koala Kai logo you got you got to that would fall into the karate uniform account there. Right?

Jason Connell:

That is true. Maybe you get a koala with your uniform. And then that's like 10 grand. I don't know. But pretty funny. Love the number. And then we move on. Then we have $8,235 for wood boards.

Sal Rodriguez:

Nice. Now that was my favorite. Yes, a lot of

Jason Connell:

wood breaking at the old Dojo there. Even in koala chi or hug often is how we do things. But yeah, a lot of board breaking great stuff. And then $5,239 on first aid kits.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, well, all those boards are going to do damage. So it piggybacks on the wooden boards as the first aid kits,

Jason Connell:

you might as well just have a medic around and said a lot to spend on first aid kits because I have a few first aid kits. And I'm clocking them around 15 bucks each. So that's quite a few first aid kits.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, first aid kits are surprisingly cheap. I know because I got a new one recently for my Nissan exterra. Some people may not know this Nissan extenders are famous for having a first aid kit in the back. In fact, there's a little pocket specifically for a first aid kit. And so recently, I wanted to restock. I like having a fresh one. They're surprisingly cheap.

Jason Connell:

How much was it? It was like 20 bucks for a decent one. So 1520 bucks. Yeah, exactly.

Sal Rodriguez:

surprisingly cheap.

Jason Connell:

So now, the last item on expenses is $1,238. On tournaments, What Sal that's like, incredibly cheap. Like they got this whole thing a little wonky. If you bring a lot of students to a tournament, it's going to add up fast, especially when you have the receipt of tournament. And then you have the all Valley and maybe there's another one here and there. There's one in LA. So I don't know, low number there. I would like to see that number much higher.

Sal Rodriguez:

But wouldn't the student if I were in a karate class, and I wanted to be in a tournament, right, I would just pay my application fee to the tournament right directly.

Jason Connell:

Well, the same with karate uniforms, a lot of Dojo is to say, Oh, we recommend them go buy that there. A lot of dojos don't have their own inventory. So this is its own little koala chi world that we're in here. So I'm assuming that they're they're doing okay at $44,000 positive cash flow. So I guess they are buying these things and then charging the students X to buy them from them,

Sal Rodriguez:

if you will. It's true. You know, I remember years ago when I was going out there and auditioning as an actor, and you will take these headshots like you dress as a doctor, I took some headshots me dressed as a cop. So I went down to this place way down Lankershim speaking of North Hollywood and Lankershim way north north Lankershim way down there, there is a uniform supply. And I went in there and I bought a police officer uniform and I come to find out, actual police officers go there to buy their uniforms. When you become a cop, the department doesn't hand you a uniform, you got to go buy a uniform, right so so this place, there were actual sheriffs and LAPD buying uniforms as I was buying my fake uniform for the headshots

Jason Connell:

as you walked out, they said thank you for your service. Yes, that's pretty good. And that's so true. I've seen that movies. I've never experienced it. That's pretty funny. So same thing here. And this is a way for or crease to keep things uniformed? No pun intended. Nice. So now so back to the commercial. What does crease do next?

Sal Rodriguez:

Well as Stephanie looks on, he removes the top of the ghee displaying a ghee underneath that looks exactly the same as the ghee that he just removed. Yeah, double gay priests places the ghee in a cubby hole and he says, that was my business key. This one's casual. Hilarious. I watched this. I've watched it over and over to make sure there was no difference. No, this was the exact same top. Stephanie has

Jason Connell:

no lines in this commercial. But Her looks are really great. She's just like, huh, that uncertain look like what just happened. And this is a first I've never seen the double gi done before are probably since ever again. But pretty funny. They wanted to give it a gag. And crease Martin Cove executes as usual. And then of course, the Intuit QuickBooks logo comes back on. And there's some text on screen as well.

Sal Rodriguez:

And it says get set up right with a live bookkeeper with Intuit QuickBooks.

Jason Connell:

And that's it. Commercial number three in the books, which leads us to our last QuickBooks commercial. Again. 15 seconds. We open up the qualify dojo in front of the logo.

Sal Rodriguez:

Strike first, strike hard hug often.

Jason Connell:

Yeah, it's got to be like that. It's got to be this really soft hug. And we see again, crease, Stephanie chest tog, again, a fire hot yoga, although Sal Fire and Ice yoga, namaste. And this time we see a koala chi student. And I believe so. It's the same boy from the first commercial.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yes. And I'm excited to see this young man because to me, he gets redeemed in this commercial after, you know, he was sort of a mark of a joke. I think in the first one, you know, being first kicked by a girl then nearly punched by a girl. So I think in this in this commercial, this young man has redemption.

Jason Connell:

Absolutely. So Chris's first line comes on. And it is

Sal Rodriguez:

Chris says to Stephanie. QuickBooks helps me to organize receipts and maximize tax deductions. And then Chris takes a picture of a receipt. And then Chris hands the phone to Stephanie says hold this. And you're like, what? What's he gonna do? Chris holds the receipt as you would hold a wooden board. And the boy he gives a karate chop, cutting the receipt in half and then the paper falls to the ground at their feet, along with a bunch of other receipts that he's done this previously to. And Stephanie asked you do that forever receipt. Increase says paper shredder is broken.

Jason Connell:

Yeah, they're great shot at him like yeah, what are you going to do? Pretty funny. And I should also point out that the receipt in which is being cut, much like a whiteboard is a fire hot yoga receipt.

Sal Rodriguez:

Nice. What was interesting to me you notice these things all the time? Well,

Jason Connell:

it made me think like is creased taking yoga. Is this what's led him to this commerce side.

Sal Rodriguez:

Now it all make sense. This is Chris's yoga instructor. His yoga instructor has mellowed him out. He's now spiritual. Yeah, his sensei of yoga. Yeah, nice. Nice. Okay, now I get it. And then the Intuit logo appears Intuit QuickBooks, save over $4,600 at tax time. And that's it.

Jason Connell:

And that is our QuickBooks. Since a crease commercials.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, I liked them a lot. I really want some more. I really I would like more of these commercials. They're these little snippets. 15 seconds. Yeah, I'll take them.

Jason Connell:

So good. So good. Yeah, they did a great job. They invented a whole new world for us to explore koala chi. And now we know that since a crease, his practicing yoga, he's found balance. Much like Daniel's always searching for and Johnny probably needs going into season three of Cobra Kai. So really good stuff. I'd love to see. Other characters have little things and Sal as Cobra Kai gets bigger. And as the students get older in real life, I can't wait to see some of them go on to different things, and maybe even do their characters. It could be Miguel commercials or Sam commercials or Robbie commercials or who knows. I'm excited to see what the future holds for the whole Cobra Kai universe.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, yeah, definitely excited about it. And excited to see these again. I just saw them recently. I think within the last week I saw them went through them a few times today, but yeah, definitely a special treat. And speaking of special treats. Today, we're not just gonna be talking about the QuickBooks commercials but we do have a special bonus. Martin Cove commercial yes we do. I did not see this commercial until today. I did not see this until today. I did not even know that it existed.

Jason Connell:

Well, I found it when I was doing the deep dive on the QuickBooks because I wanted to see if there was any ones I was missing. And I stumbled on this And that is a commercial by NAPA Auto Parts. It's called race car. That's the tag of the commercial. And it came out in 2013.

Sal Rodriguez:

So this predates all the QuickBooks commercials. This was during that period of time between Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, a lot of stuff went down. We're finding I mean, you know, who knew, you know, people thought it just went Karate Kid, then just things just went dead. And then boom, we have Cobra Kai know, a lot of stuff went down. People did a lot of stuff, including this commercial for Napa.

Jason Connell:

Yeah. So like I just said, this came out in 2013. That's three years after the Karate Kid remake that six years after no more kings Sweep the leg. And it's five years before Cobra Kai comes out on YouTube Red. So it is in this weird time that what even made them think of it. So well done. They were ahead of their time in some respects and, and decades behind and others, but I love that they did it. And let's talk about it.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, and in this one, unlike the QuickBooks commercials, Martin Cove makes what you would definitely call a cameo. So this is a cameo appearance by Martin Cove,

Jason Connell:

well said that's exactly what it is. And so what does kind of go through this a little bit differently. The beats are a bit different because the CAMEO makes his big entrance at the end and makes it a much better commercial. So we start with, like in an auto body shop, if you will. And you have a voiceover and it's a very well known voiceover artists and actor, it's Patrick Warburton. And you may know him from putty on Seinfeld. And real life I ran into him on a set of a movie called rebound was the Martin Lawrence movie kind of like the Mighty Ducks. But he was a basketball coach. Not a very good movie, but I can be seen at some basketball scenes. So there's a little fun thing little scavenger hunt for those of you out there interested. And he's got that great voice if you know it, so I'm sure you do.

Sal Rodriguez:

Now I know. But I didn't know. You know, I was just so focused on the commercial itself. I didn't even think about the voiceover Yeah, buddy from Seinfeld. That's the tall guy, right? Yeah. Okay. He was like Elaine's love interest for a while

Jason Connell:

high five. He's got that real dead pan. And he's really funny. And really great at his roles. And yeah, he's huge. He looks super huge. And everything because most actors in Hollywood is you know, are short. Yes. Anyway. So we have these two cans of Napa know how, and I guess they're just talking to each other. Patrick Warburton is doing voices for each. And they both kind of have their guy if you will. They're both on the hood of this car. And they're kind of having a conversation and then and walk to NASCAR drivers. Now, I don't know much about NASCAR. I'm a huge sports fan. But I don't know anything about racing other than Joe Gibbs because he used to coach my beloved Washington Redskins now known as the Washington football team. But I guess it's Ron Capps and martin Truex Jr. Yes, each one of these cans of Napa know how likes one of these writers Ron or Martin kind of reminded me of the Bud Light commercials back in the day tastes great less filling like a champion one side of the other but no one likes both. And so as things escalate Sal one can says to the other

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, these two cans are arguing and one can says you're ugly to the other camp that looks just like him. Yeah,

Jason Connell:

exactly. To which the other can replies with you want to step outside and it's that Warburton voice which actually kind of makes it funny. Yeah, they look the same they are the same and now they're gonna step outside we cut away to like a slow mo of the know how can dropping you know like they do on commercials. But as we come back and Sal it's like everyone's around the car are two guys Ron and Martin and other people and what do you hear so

Sal Rodriguez:

all these guys are chanting Fight Fight Fight they want these two cans of know how to fight each other right and by the way know how I had to dive into this a little bit there is not an actual literal can of Napa that is called know how I thought this maybe like the brand of oil I think the know how is just sort of an advertising slogans and their slogan Yeah, exactly. Yeah, the slogan is know how and these can sort of represent the know how slogan but I was thinking why did they call their oil know how but that's not the case. I almost

Jason Connell:

wish they did say different things like tastes great less filling in no no how in something else, but they don't. They're identical. Which I guess is supposed to be funny like the double Gi. But out of nowhere during this fight, fight, fight chant because people get jacked up when a fight is about to happen and they lose their minds who enters from behind.

Sal Rodriguez:

out of absolutely nowhere. Nobody watching this commercial is expected as out of nowhere. Since a crease appears arm Fold. Did you see his Cobra tattoo? By the way? Is that a real tattoo? Or do they draw that on was is that a fake tattoo that he has on his arm?

Jason Connell:

He's always had it. I don't know if it's always been there when he's since a crease. But another question to find out I'm not sure.

Sal Rodriguez:

Okay, well, I'm just curious if Martin Cove legitimately has a cobra tattoo on his right arm. Remember Dimitri referred to it in the dojo when they had their one on one encounter there. So there is there's the Cobra tattoo, his arms are folded and he says, Sweep the leg. He's telling one of the cans to sweep the leg of the other camp.

Jason Connell:

Oh my god. And of course, one of the cans says we don't have legs.

Sal Rodriguez:

And then Chris says, nevermind any scoots off quickly.

Jason Connell:

He almost looks embarrassed. He's like, Oh, yeah, that's right. And the exit stage left.

Sal Rodriguez:

It gives you the impression that sense a crease kind of just goes all over the world, just popping in, in these random environments. telling you to sweep the leg could be anywhere. It could be anything you could be like having an argument with a co worker, maybe work in a bank. You're having an arguing with a co worker and since a creature just walk in, Sweep the leg.

Jason Connell:

Yeah, it is funny, Sal. I mean, here comes since a crease, and he hasn't even done this role since 1989. Since Karate Kid three,

Sal Rodriguez:

okay, so he has not done the ghee in that many years, as

Jason Connell:

far as we know, unless we find other footage of him being since a crease, John crease, and anything but I can't think of it since Karate Kid three. So you know what someone came to him and said, this will be funny. We want you to reprise your role for this little bitty cameo on this NAPA Auto Parts commercial. It's crazy. And what

Sal Rodriguez:

a foreshadow Do you think Martin Cole when he did this commercial, probably happy to be there. Gotta had a nice day on the set. Got a nice check. Right? never would have thought what the future held? never would have thought

Jason Connell:

no, who would have thought five years later back on a hit TV show reprising this character.

Sal Rodriguez:

And then talk about meta, doing more commercials based on now. The Cobra Kai crease, not just the Karate Kid crease.

Jason Connell:

And as we talk about this, it just dawned on me Sal, what if Pat Marina were still alive, he would have absolutely been asked to be in any and everything with his character. Who was the good side of the world and everyone loved Mr. Miyagi. There probably would have been more Karate Kid movies. And no doubt in my mind, he could do advertisements for any and everything.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, if you think about it, since we're talking about parallel universes, in imagine in the QuickBooks universe, here we have crease, the gentler crease from koala chi. Talk about flip the script. What if Miyagi is evil in that world?

Jason Connell:

Yeah, I'd much rather see him and John crease on the same side. Much like in Star Wars when Darth Vader died, and he went back to becoming Anakin Skywalker and a ghost. And then he's next to Obi Wan Kenobi, because he really is good. In the end. I'd much rather see Mr. Miyagi stand next to John crease, and they're on the same side of things and qualify.

Sal Rodriguez:

Well, we know that Miyagi believes in forgiveness, because remember, yeah, man without forgiveness and heart for him living worse punishment than death. So he would have forgiven Yeah, he would have. And remember when Daniel Russo and Miyagi found out about the suppose at death of crease from Terry silver in Karate Kid three, they did seem genuinely disturbed or they were not happy to hear that they were not. They were not excited. That crease was dead. Now, as I would have been like, I would be like, ooh, high fiving, you know, but no, they are from the light. Absolutely.

Jason Connell:

Well, that covers our John crease commercial. Filmography commercial autography I don't know what you call that. But that was a ton of fun. Sounds so much fun to explore. Yet another thing and the Karate Kid Cobra Kai universe are finding new things all the time. We have more fun things in store for episodes ahead.

Sal Rodriguez:

Oh, I love it. And I'm looking forward to seeing more because we have over two months right over about two months until season three drops. So you'll be hearing more from us on subject matter like this. There are other commercials as I said in the beginning, we are going to be talking about some other Martin Cove some very interesting talk about advertising with a twist. We're going to be seeing some more Martin Cove as crease in subsequent commercials but non Intuit QuickBooks so those are going to be interesting. So stay tuned. There's a lot more fun stuff coming up on Let's Talk Cobra Kai.

Jason Connell:

Absolutely. And hopefully more interviews. If you haven't heard the interview with myself and Griffin Santo Pietro, I highly recommend it he plays Anthony Russo and Morty Calm. We're super excited. Just want to do a little shout out to Let's Talk movies. Our most recent episode, I had Sal on, and we did the Terminator, the 1984 James Cameron classic. And my gosh, Sal, what a great episode that is beat by beat scene by scene of such an incredible film that spawned so many sequels. And I had a great time having you on and we really covered it. From head to toe.

Sal Rodriguez:

Yeah, thank you, Jason. I had a great time on Let's Talk movies, this time talking about the Terminator. Previously I was on we did the fly. We did an American Werewolf in London. Had a great time on those. And I'll tell you when it comes to Let's Talk movies. You know what? I'll be back.

Jason Connell:

You're the first third time guest on Let's Talk movies. And I think we'll see you again. That's what I think. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening and we greatly appreciate if you could subscribe rate and review us wherever you get your podcast.

Sal Rodriguez:

You can also follow us on social media at let's talk Cobra Kai, and please message us if you have any comments or questions.

Jason Connell:

If you'd like to become a patreon supporter of the show, just search for let's talk Cobra Kai. And if you're just curious about our other shows, please visit just curious media.com

Sal Rodriguez:

No Mercy

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