Ralph Macchio tells an envious Stephen Colbert that he still has the “wax on, wax off” car
The resurgent Cobra Kai star is also 60 years old, somehow
TV News Stephen Colbert
Addressing his first guest on Tuesday’s Late Show, Stephen Colbert marveled to once and seemingly forever Karate Kid kid Ralph Macchio, “You look like Ralph Macchio.” And say what you will about 52-year-old Paul Rudd, but the Cobra Kai star is, indeed, the spitting image of the gangly Daniel LaRusso, if not from the original Karate Kid, then certainly the 1989 Karate Kid Part III version. Macchio bashfully credited the Ed Sullivan Theater lighting crew for making the now-sexagenarian look like that karate stuff also functions as the fountain of perpetual youth, as Colbert brought out a photo of Macchio and nurse practitioner wife Phyllis, who just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.
Colbert (somehow three years younger than his guest) had more than one thing to feel jealous about, however. And while the fact that the long-delayed and improbably successful Karate Kid spinoff series Cobra Kai is Netflix’s number one series and is rocking a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes (and garnering a healthy esteem from The A.V. Club) might be cause for a little late middle-aged envy, it was one particular movie prop that Colbert was especially green over.
That being the 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Convertible that Daniel famously (and unknowingly) practiced his martial arts defense upon in the original film. Macchio recalled hinting around about his love for the gorgeously shiny (thanks to him) vintage automobile around the sets of the first two films, before being presented with the machine after Karate Kid Part III wrapped. And whether you call the Maize Yellow antique the “balance car” (Colbert) or the “wax on, wax off” car (Macchio), the vehicle is apparently just as well preserved as its driver. (Macchio also deferred credit there, too, thanking the Cobra Kai “superfan” showrunners for restoring his prized possession to its wonted glory.)
Nostalgia aside, Macchio joked that returning to the character he first played some 38 years ago was all part of the plan all along. Colbert asked if Daniel-san (so nicknamed by the late Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi) is how he’s most recognized these days, with Macchio admitting that Cobra Kai’s unexpected popularity still sees him fending off “Sweep the leg!,” chants on the street from time to time. Still, S.E. Hinton’s enduring popularity on high school reading lists ensures a steady complement of high school girls excited to meet Johnny Cade, while Brooklyn occasionally rings with “youts” from My Cousin Vinny. (It would appear that admirers of Crossroads’ Eugene Martone are much more reticent as a rule.)
74 Comments
and yet we can’t get recaps of Cobra Kai here…
This site can only cover so many subjects. If they took the time to write Cobra Kai recaps, we might miss out on articles about Al from Home Improvement not selling NFTs.
Look, that piece is Peabody worthy. I learned so much, I laughed, I cried…
Write one up and send it in.
I’m not a writer, hence why I asked.
It’s not really a show that needs much analysis. Johnny does something comically stupid (bonus points if it involves technology), the kids have drama, there’s a fight scene, Danny thinks it would all be better if they did some yard work, hilarity ensues.Recap done, sensei.To be clear, the show’s fantastic, it’s just not at all complicated.
I disagree. Everything you say is definitely part of a repetitive formula to the show, but there’s some surprising subtext about parenting, aging, and cycles of toxic masculinity/ethos that I think is worth parsing out.I think it’s the shows treatment of these themes that has garnered it so many fans, and not the superficial jokes, fights and fan service (though they certainly help)
I mean, they did Brooklyn 99 and Modern Family recaps, you think those shows needed much analysis?
Of course not; sitcoms in general don’t need recaps (I assume they were sponsored). But two wrongs don’t make a right.
Supposedly Cobra Kai is the #1 show on Netflix, so you would think they would want to take advantage of it’s popularity, meanwhile they did recaps of Brooklyn 99 ( don’t get me wrong, I loved that show) that was canceled and move networks due to low ratings.
So you are saying Brooklyn 99 and Modern Family are much more complicated?
Do they normally do recaps of shows that drop all their episodes at once? Makes it hard to space them out as everyone binges them. I think recaps are more for weekly releases, like you see on HBO Max, Disney +, Apple +, etc.Netflix just dumps it all out there. You’ll get a review of the whole thing, but an episode by episode recap makes less sense in that context.
They were recapping the Marvel Netflix shows, and they do Stranger Things..
Have they recapped any binge-release shows in the past 2 years?
I am positive when Stranger Things returns they will.
Well they did recaps for Stranger Things and artificially spread them out (and asking posters who had watched further not to spoil things)
They have reviewed Netflix shows before and usually it’s a review a day or every other day.
We need somewhere to talk about how Daniel is arguably the real villain of the show.
But that’s the entire stated premise of the show isn’t it? It’s not really an insight or hot take. Daniel is presented as a guy whose adult life was easy while Johnny’s was hard, and Daniel’s memories of being bullied by Johnny and his friends in high school are blinding him of this.
I actually think the “Daniel is the villain” readings are overblown. A lot of them come from that Youtube video making the same argument about the first movie, but they sort of forget that the viewer isn’t necessarily supposed to approve of everything Daniel does, even if we recognize that Johnny and the gang are bullies. When I rewatched the first movie a couple of years ago, I was surprised that he’s a lot less sympathetic, at least in the first half, than I remember from watching the move in my youth. He’s whiny and angry all the time, but honestly that’s like 90% of all teenage dudes. The point of the film isn’t that Daniel is some innocent kid standing up to bullies. It’s that he’s an angry teen getting caught in a cycle of violence who’s two steps away from becoming a full blown asshole. But then Mr. Miyagi comes in and channels that energy into karate in order to save him. The show recognizes these flaws in his character, which is why it’s so well done. But I also don’t think they make him into a full blown villain, and I’m glad they didn’t. He’s much better as a flawed character, often trying to do the right thing but also a part of him is still that resentful, angry teen.
I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago, and agree entirely. I was impressed by how realistic and complex his character was – if the film were made today, he would be ‘the hero’, whose perfect character and perfect teeth were only made more sparkling by his excellent quips, and we’d spend the whole film wondering how stupid everyone else must be not to realise that this guy’s amazing. But instead, he’s… kind of a jerk. And an idiot. The film isn’t about how karate can help you beat up your enemies, it’s about how it can help you be a better person – and unfortunately I don’t think that’s how it would be made today. [if it were made for the same market, that is – obviously you could still do a high-concept Oscar version if you wanted, in which case it would probably be about how everyone’s a jerk all the time and it doesn’t matter what they do]
I agree with that, at least the first two seasons he was. There’s more subtext to this show than people think.
I guess he’s trying this season, but he still falls back on me know best, Johnny know nothing as soon as there’s a problem. I agree that there is a lot of subtext.
Hey he definitely falls back on that, but at least he’s not actively trying to sabotage Johnny’s life anymore.
I wouldn’t say he’s the real villain, but he has as many of his own issues that he needs to sort out as Johnny. His heart is in the right place, like Johnny. Unlike the real villains like Kreese and Silver, who are definitely more selfish and amoral in their actions.
All these years hating with the white hot heat of a thousand suns on the wrong character (though I still like LaRusso), which is part of why CK is interesting and fun to watch. They all look pretty good, and the young cast swirls around each other with a great dynamic.
It was that or recapping the Sex and the City revival that literally no one asked for. So you can guess how the AVClub went
Here ya go: The entire high school class is divided into two groups, that continually taunt and bully each other, eventually fighting and seriously maiming each other. There are very few adults in this town, but they too, take sides and encourage this behavior. Each season, the teenage participants change teams somewhat and try again. All the teachers must be on vacation, and the cops are at the donut shops. So, yeah. Its an awesome series.
Or even a review of Psych 3: This is Gus (And Macchio-related since he guest starred on the show a couple times).
Man, I was really hoping that atrocious wig was just for Cobra Kai. Let it go, bud. You’re bald . . . We’re bald.
agreed. It’s jarring enough that he has either had remarkably good plastic surgery OR is genetically blessed to look 30 years younger than he is (hearing him sheepishly admit to Colbert that he was 60 was surreal), but that hair is weird and off-putting.
He’s always looked younger than his real age (he was 23 in the first Karate Kid!) That part I think is god’s gift. That wig, on the other hand, is god’s mistake.
Twent…. WHAT THE FUCK!?
He could be genetically blessed. My grandpa had hair like that around that age when I was younger.I on the other hand…
I’m pushing towards 50 and I have all my hair, and it’s also still brown. If that’s a rug than the technology of toupees has really jumped up. Go look at Sinatra at his age.
Now implants, Finestra and Rogaine could be a bit more likely.
He is not.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/blogs/aline/ralph-macchio-rocking-rug-174534418.html
Hmm, interesting. That looks way more like a wig than his hair in the Colbert clip. I wonder if he decided to get implants.
You know, I believed for many years that my grandmother (and my mom) remained naturally chestnut brown while my aunt went grey. Grandchildren are easy to convince is all I’m saying.
My dad still has 80% of his hair and he turns 60 this year. My grandpa on my moms side eventually did go full white, but he still had a full head of it.
Genetically blessed and wealth blessed. When you can afford not to eat the processed garbage that’s making us all fat and giving us type 2 diabetes, you’ll look better in your 60s.
I was thinking it don’t look to bad. I recently tried to medically prevent my continued hair loss and ended up looking like Meatloaf in Fight Club. So I have just stopped taking that crap and accepted I am going to just see my hair line slowly creep back farther and farther. Lets just hope the side effects reverse quickly. I told my wife if she really doesn’t like bald me then I would go pickup a “Shatner Special”
Is that a sex worker who is cosplaying as a green alien girl?
What about going to Keeps or one of those and getting Finestra? You’ll keep what you have and it might even thicken…so I hear.
Keeps is who I went to that prescribed the meds that gave me man boobs. Basically all of those places are scams. You can get a doctor to prescribe the same meds for you and you can get them cheaper at a local pharmacy. There are basically just two meds.
I take stuff for my hair loss and haven’t had any issues but I also happen to know the one of the best doctors in the country for hair loss. He was way concerned about side effects so it was slowly ramp up the dose and literally count follicles to see if it was working.
I started thinning when I was 19. At the time, Rogaine was the state of the art, and I used the shit out of it for a while, and then I just cut it all off with a #2 guard and didn’t look back. In retrospect, I could have held out longer, c’est la vie.
It’s not a wig, it’s just a really, really bad haircut.
Extensions maybe? Plugs? Not saying he’s Mr Clean under there, but it’s not all his. Again, no shade on people doing what they need to do to feel beautiful. But as a proud, out baldy, it just breaks my heart to see the Travoltas and Pivens of the world hiding their light under a bushel.
No, it’s just like 3 inches longer than it should be and combed down over his forehead, likely overcompensating for a hairline that’s getting higher than he’d like. My hair does the same thing if I don’t cut it for a few months and comb it with a side part.
Hey, lets not make fun of Crossroads (aka Karate Kid but with electric guitars!).SPOILER ALERT: He wins by going back to playing classical music, which his heavy metal competitor can’t match!!
Apparently Steve Vai had a very hard time adjusting his muscle memory to play those parts incorrectly.
Fuck, they could have hired me, my muscle memory needs no adjustment to play shit wrong.
Same here. I can remember trying to learn that in the late 80’s before I gave up wanting to be EVH and decided to be Bob Stinson instead.
Oh damn, maybe I’ll actually watch that on Tubi
When I was a kid, my dad owned a landscaping company on Long Island and he and his crew did some work for Ralph Macchio. He said he and his wife were super nice. He said Ralph was driving the Karate Kid car. Also, Phyllis brought them iced tea.
Love that he’s been married to the same woman since he was 25, when he very easily could have turned into a typical Hollywood dirtbag (extra points for her being a nurse).
If you have more than one spouse in your lifetime you’re a dirtbag?I think you’re the dirtbag for saying that.
Nurse PRACTICIONER – basically a doctor but more real life training and less school.
My sister in-law is a NP so I’m well acquainted with the differences. Although I believe her combined undergrad / masters program took five years.
yeah always see the NP instead of the MD, they actually ask what’s wrong, don’t immediately say “you sound fine” no matter what you say, and have lower incidences of sociopathy 🙂
Oh for sure. I’m joking around because I knew someone would get on me for just calling her a nurse, but you’re 100% right. They’re also usually easier/quicker to get in to see.
Who he met when he was 15. Its very cute
(applies wax)
(whacks off)
Perceived age is indeed a complex thing. The idea that he is not only substantially older than Paul Rudd, but a bit older than Stephen Colbert, is really messing with my brain.What calms it right down is looking at that ragtop ‘47; its design is very period-specific, but its beauty is timeless.
He is also a few months older than Thomas Ian Griffith, who plays Terry Silver. Terry Silver is supposed to be a Vietnam vet, but Griffith is way too young to be one.
It isn’t completely absurd to think that a Vietnam veteran is just now phasing into his mid 60s: say, he enlisted with parental permission at 17; had six months of training; then rotated in late in the war even as the overwhelming overall trend was drawdown. US ground troops actually in Vietnam were mostly withdrawn by early 1973, but a variety of functions continued. The official definition of “Vietnam era veteran” (which included a decreasing but nonzero number of personnel actually in Vietnam) extends until May 1975.But those are edge cases. The peak of US presence was 1966 through 1970 and the average age of a Vietnam infantryman was around 22, so it is with good reason that one generally thinks of a Vietnam veteran as being in his 70s by now. For sure if a character seems to be in his late 50s or early 60s and the setting is the present day, there is a plausibility gap to be leaped; that would have been his big brother’s or uncle’s war.Makeup-trailer magic and as much willing suspension of disbelief as your acting talent can sell would seem to be key factors.
OK now that is blowing my mind. So the villain in Karate Kid part III was younger than Daniel himself? Jesus.
Actor, not character…if that helps. Remember, Hollywood runs a lot on actors who ages are off….
And I found out recently Ming-Na Wen is 58 years old! 58 is the new 38.
He looks like he is doing bad Ted Cruz cosplay.
He looks like he is doing bad Ted Cruz cosplay.
I mean – he definitely doesn’t look 60 – but he doesn’t look THAT young to me. He looks like a well-kept 48.