Seth Rogen Just Ranked Sylvester Stallone’s Career and Stallone Fans Are Not Happy About It
The Stallone versus Schwarzenegger debate has been a Hollywood institution for decades, a rivalry born from marquees, box office tallies, and the kind of muscle-flexing macho energy that defined an entire era of action cinema. Stallone made his name with ‘Rocky’ in 1976 and followed it with the ‘Rambo’ franchise beginning in 1982, building a career that would span more than fifty years and over eighty feature films. He has been called one of the defining faces of the genre, a legitimate Hollywood icon who turned his own underdog story into celluloid gold. So it is perhaps fitting that it took a comedy podcast to reignite that old debate in the most ruthlessly casual way imaginable.
‘Funny You Ask’ is a weekly comedy-trivia podcast hosted by Ike Barinholtz, the actor and writer best known as a two-time ‘Jeopardy!’ champion, who invites his famous friends to go head-to-head in customized trivia battles built around their own passions and obsessions. The show launched in March and blends rapid-fire questions with unscripted riffing between Barinholtz and his guests. Barinholtz and Seth Rogen are currently co-starring in Apple TV’s Emmy-nominated satirical comedy ‘The Studio,’ which means the chemistry between the two was already well-established long before they sat down to record.
The clip that sent the internet into a spiral this week came from Rogen’s episode of the podcast, and it did not take long for the conversation to veer away from trivia. Barinholtz kicked things off by suggesting the over-under on genuinely good Stallone films was somewhere around four, at which point Rogen jumped in to weigh in on exactly which titles cleared that bar. ‘Demolition Man’ made the cut as a legitimately good film in his view, though he was careful to draw a line between quality and enjoyment, pointing out that ‘Tango and Cash’ is fun without actually being good. From there the conversation pivoted sharply into Schwarzenegger territory, and neither man held back.
Rogen argued that Stallone simply has no answer for the films on Schwarzenegger’s résumé, pointing out that ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘True Lies’ represent a tier of legitimately great movies that Stallone’s catalogue cannot match. Barinholtz piled on by noting that ‘Predator’ alone sits above anything Stallone has made, and then both recalled what he described as a rough stretch from 1997 to 2012, specifically calling out ‘Driven’ and ‘Daylight’ as evidence of a prolonged slump. The ‘Daylight’ dig landed with particular specificity, with Barinholtz noting that Stallone played a character trapped in the Holland Tunnel named Kit Latura, which somehow made it even funnier.
None of the criticism is likely to stop Stallone, who is still very much in business. He is currently set to return as Dwight Manfredi in Season 4 of Paramount+’s ‘Tulsa King,’ which is undergoing post-production, and is also attached to the upcoming spin-off series ‘Frisco King’ alongside Samuel L. Jackson. Meanwhile, Rogen and Barinholtz are busy filming season two of ‘The Studio,’ which received 23 Emmy nominations for its debut season, making it the most-nominated comedy debut in television history. The clip from ‘Funny You Ask’ quickly went viral, proving that no matter how much either man’s career has evolved, the Stallone versus Schwarzenegger argument still has an audience that will never let it die.
Whether you think Rogen’s four-film ceiling is fair or a comic exaggeration waiting to be taken apart, the ‘Rocky’ and ‘Rambo’ legacy speaks for itself, so share your personal Stallone ranking in the comments and make the case for the films Rogen left off the list.
