The Smiley Smile Message Board

This is hilarious--from Brian's instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5kwzCmBROb/

:lol

O wow thanks ! I needed to hear that!  :-)

Can you paste instagram here? It ain't available - blank space - via mobile used.
Thanks.

NB: zero idea who's "Marie Calender".

I live on the east coast of the U.S., so I know Marie Callender as a frozen food brand, but apparently it's a restaurant in LA.
Brian's instagram is BrianWilsonLive-- you can find the video there.

ANY instagram - Brian's, smb. else's - is blank space. I.e. instagram *generally*.
See, it's the main reason I HATE instagram. Site that isn't available to EVERYbody, REAL pain in the neck = big hate.

Can it be seen thru the other - pirate? - site? Thanks.
Or, can you capture screen with it?

Here's a synopsis/transcript for those unable to view...

Brian Wilson (present day or thereabouts) sitting on a sofa talking on a corded, landline phone.  Only Brian's half of the telephone conversation is audible.

BRIAN: "Uh, yeah, we do go to Marie Callender's once...
 about once every two years actually.   
Not very often, but it's a great place for really good pies.
[other people chortling/snickering off camera] 
If you like pie, they've got really good pies.
[more chortling/snickering off camera]
Matter of fact you ought to go there right now."


It's classic Brian Wilson in smart-alecky, put-on mode.  Nice to see!

Some local context...  Marie Callender's is a "casual dining" chain of restaurants known for its pies.  At one time in the '80s/'90s, it seemed like there were 100s of them.  Now they're down to a couple dozen, mostly in Southern California.   I think there's one in Sherman Oaks that would be semi-convenient for folks in west L.A., Beverly Hills, etc.

Thank you, juggler! Really nice of you to write the video down,with details in brackets to boot - cool help (BBs fans should be helpful to the other BBs fans - easily :D )! & thanks to the local context addition to Amy B.'s.

Brianisms thread anybody? :3d

There was a Brianisms thread but i can’t find it even though I started it.

Here it's, Billy: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,9198.0.html

Almost looks as if whoever's on the other end is telling him what to say

This is from the mid-2000’s when Brian was raising money for Hurricane Katrina victims and relief from 2005.

Marie Callenders restaurants are also in Northern California. Though, as already pointed out, they are dwindling in number and are pretty hard to find. I'd compare it to other restaurant chains, but most of the places I'd compare it to are probably regional and mostly if not totally out of business. But yeah, it's "casual dining", not particularly unlike Denny's or whatever, just with a bakery. It just has a more well-known bakery component (probably a bunch of people don't even eat there and just buy the pies and deserts). It's also often noted as a place that older folks tend to visit. Which probably explains why there are fewer and fewer staying in business.

I take it their menu never got all "edgy" like such renown chains as Chilis or Applebees, etc.

The frozen food line, like most lines, has no actual connection to the restaurants other than using the name.

Funnily enough, on the west coast, at least in Northern California, Cracker Barrel would probably be a close analogy. There are no Cracker Barrel restaurants out here. It's known only as a mail order store that sells holiday/decorative stuff, and also frozen/prepackaged food.

It's funny, back in 2002 when McCartney went back on tour in the US for the first time in nearly a decade, he often told a story leading into one of the new album tunes (probably "Driving Rain") about finding this random restaurant that he really liked. The gist of the story was that he thought it was a random one-off restaurant, and when he later told people he found this rare, out of the way restaurant called "Marie Callenders", I guess everybody laughed at him. It was the equivalent of trying to tip people off about this rare, impeccable restaurant you found called "Denny's."

I'd be curious to know if McCartney had to drop the story once he reached regions where fewer people would know it's a restaurant chain. And obviously, the joke wouldn't work as well nearly 20 years later as the locations are kind of rare now.

Only thing I knew about Marie Callender was the frozen meals :lol

Thanks for pointing that out.  I wasn't sure.  He did seem a bit younger, but since his instagram handlers hadn't provided any context, I'd assumed it was recent.  Gracias for the context.

Aside from the vegetarianism, Macca seems to be a "casual dining" kinda guy.  The Bob's Big Boy in Burbank has a plaque at the booth where he and the other famous 3 ate in 1965.

Hey folks,

Check this 2010 Q&A vid, thankfully youtube got it, could finally see what the others seen thru nadir instagram (bleh), Brian's Marie Calender bit at 5:28: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o-u5UqsHsMo

Fave reply - "Cali Girls"/ Bach.

Brian's no dummy.  They actually do have really good pie.

I concur. My mom used to regularly go out of her way to pick up the Marie Callender's boysenberry pie when it was in season.

About 8-9 years ago, I happened to see an ad for Full House star Dave Coulier performing comedy at a Marie Callendar's that had a comedy club in it. This was pre-Fuller house, and it seemed like a low point for a once famous comedian to be performing at a Marie Callender's.

Then it loops back to Brian and the BBs' Full House connection, and that also arguably being a low point for them, and then it's the circle of life.
 
Time to listen to Too Much Sugar...

Chain restaurants in the USA have had a rougher time of it in the 21st century, and Marie Callender's is no exception. The parent company (which I believe originated as early as the late 40s with a primordial chain of pancake houses) has recently gone into Chapter 11 and closed down about half of the remaining locations:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2019/08/05/perkins-marie-callenders-bankruptcy-restaurant-closings/1926980001/

Maybe Brian and Mike can finally reunite with a tune about Waffle House...

It's interesting how the Marie Callender chain has fallen on hard times.

The Callender family sold the original business year ago, but they still have a BBQ restaurant (with, yes, full selection of PIES) in Rancho Mirage, CA.  It's called Babe's, and is run by Marie's grandson, I think.

Marie Callender's is a little bit better than Denny's.

Most things are better than Denny’s

I grew up in orange county, ca in the 80s and marie calendars was defnitely the place to go for pie...on thanksgiving theyd have lines out the door of people wanting pumpkin pies....Kinda sad they arent around anymore hardly...their regular food wasnt bad, but the pies were the best part.