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[HOOVES CLOPPING]
[HORSE WHINNYING]
[PHONE RINGING]
ZACHARY CAPP: Rita?
RITA: How's everything going?
Oh, it's pretty scary.
Is there a caregiver we can send to the Westgate Hotel?
Like a care...
RITA: When?
Like, immediately.
Immediately?
I have to go. I'll call you back, Ryan's calling me.
Hang on. I'll put you on hold.
Ry?
RYAN: Yeah.
I'm trying to get a caregiver over to you right now.
Well, good.
See if you can get him to take a nap.
-See if you can just keep him calm. -Okay.
I love you. Thanks.
Rita?
RITA: I'm gonna call Kathy.
Call Kathy. His name's Larry.
He's really a nice guy from Minnesota.
He's just a little shocked right now that he's here.
I got to go.
As soon as possible. Okay.
I really don't know what the fuck just happened,
but we got Larry back to the Westgate Hotel.
My uncle came over there.
I'm trying to get a caregiver to sit with Larry.
He didn't sleep last night.
He thinks he's in Minnesota.
I don't know. This probably shouldn't go in the movie.
That was a scary moment.
DAVE NEWBERG: Zach's been working on a documentary
about onion rings, for three years of his life.
Full time. Full time.
He quit... He quit his job...
[CHUCKLING]
He was the president
of the largest nanny and housekeeping firm in the country.
And left it to make a documentary about onion rings.
And it's three years later, and it's still not done.
Uh, the story, it's a mutant.
[TURKEY WARBLING]
-[MAN LAUGHING] -It's mutated
through brute force
and tenacity.
SEAN: And endless resources.
DAVE: And endless resources.
There were multiple points where it just felt like we were done.
We could have been done.
But then, more spectacular things happened
that you can't say no to.
Where's Legendary Larry?
CHUCK BRENNAN: Right here, Paul.
There he is.
How are you?
DAVE: I'm so conflicted about everything that happened.
ZACH: This is my last vice, cigarettes.
I got to quit.
I, I don't drink.
I don't gamble.
I used to have a gambling problem.
-MAN: Not anymore though? -Mmm-mmm.
I went to rehab.
I live in Las Vegas.
Well, I play the casinos.
I mean, gambling is everywhere in Las Vegas,
even in the gas stations, in the grocery stores.
No matter where you go, you can't avoid it in this town.
I played video poker at first.
I would win. Obviously, that's what keeps you coming back.
Um, but you lose more than you win.
This town was not built on winners.
Anyways, I go to rehab,
it literally saved my life.
And, um...
I caught the video bug while I was there.
I, uh...
I talked to everybody in rehab, and I wrote a script.
Even let me put the addicts in the film.
MAN: ...to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
ZACH: And now, I live my life one day at a time.
I brought the whole,
the whole rehab facility to tears.
They told me at the rehab facility
I invented video therapy for addicts.
I got out of rehab in May of 2015,
and a month or two later,
my grandfather, Martin, Martin Capp from Minneapolis,
he passed away.
ZACH'S MOM: Saint Paul.
-Okay, you're throwing me off. -The difference...
-Okay, okay. -Saint Paul. [LAUGHS] You can't say Minneapolis.
You gotta say "My papa, Martin Capp from Saint Paul."
Okay.
ZACH: I was blessed with an inheritance
that my grandfather left me.
So when he told me to follow my passion, which was filmmaking,
I knew I wanted to do that.
I wanted to...
prove to myself, prove to my family and my friends, and the world
that I'm Zach Capp, I'm a filmmaker.
ZACH: Don't look in the camera.
Okay, look at you.
[CLEARS THROAT]
My name is Lexy Lionel,
and I'm from a little dot on the planet
around Lake Minnesota, Nobles County
and the people back there really are the salt of the earth.
I realize now, more than ever how precious it was.
The documentary came about
when we were back visiting my mother,
and my oldest son, Zachary, was realizing,
every time we go back to Worthington, or Nobles County
or that area wherever Larry Lang was,
we would have his onion rings.
And finally my son said, "What is it with these onion rings?"
ZACH: Why did I make a movie about onion rings?
For me, these onion rings were a big part of my childhood.
This was the first idea I had,
and I just went with it.
I wasn't even gonna consider another idea.
I was gonna make a movie about these onion rings.
My name is Tom Sietsema
I'm withThe Washington Post in Washington, D.C.
The reason you can't see my face
is because I think anonymity is very important
when one is a restaurant critic.
I've had fields of onion rings
over several decades of reviewing restaurants,
and these are the best onion rings I've ever had anywhere.
Maybe he's got a secret.
He does have a secret.
He's gotta have a secret.
They were just perfect.
Like I died and went to heaven.
They were just luscious, you know.
The Blooming Onion and all the different onion rings you can get
in all the diff...
They just, they don't compare.
Oh, yes, without a doubt, best onion rings I've ever had.
Let me just mention this.
I never wanted to be in this movie.
ZACH: I went to school for TV production.
And at first, I was gonna make a television pilot
called American Food Legends.
And as part of it, I was trying to figure out
who invented the onion ring itself.
Five different people lay claim to inventing the onion ring,
and I wanted to get to the bottom of that.
KIM REDDIN: The origin of the onion ring is really unknown.
They may have been created in more than one place at one time,
and the exact origin is just simply unknown.
ZACH: All right.
It wasn't until this news article came out
in the Worthington Daily Globe
saying that our production team was coming to town.
and the next day I mean, there were hundreds of missed calls
and voicemails and so many emails.
Everybody had a story to tell about Larry.
I made the decision. I said,
"We're not gonna figure out who invented the onion ring anymore.
"We're gonna tell a story about the Langs,
"and specifically, Larry."
I'm looking at you? Oh, good. I like that.
-MAN: Zach, if you can slide over as much as possible...-I like looking at Zach anyway.
[ZACH CHUCKLING]
Okay. Good.
Let this be the first of many movies.
And you're gonna make Poppy Day a real movie.
ZACH: Good. Poppy Day.
I think Catherine Zeta-Jones should be in it.
ZACH: My mom, her first job was working at Michael's restaurant.
I played the organ,
and I want to describe for you now, Michael's Steakhouse.
When you would walk in, and those who were there will remember this,
you'd walk in, I don't care if it was a cold, blistery day
and the snow was coming down,
but they would come through those doors
after they pull under that ramp, the arch there to get in.
And you just felt the love.
Michaels was a center.
I think "iconic" is the word.
Um, Larry who grew up in the restaurant
and Michael, his father, you know, lived right there.
The food was good.
You were well taken care of.
In fact, there were times when people kind of
made fun a little bit of Larry and Michael
because they were so attentive.
He'd always come out with a pitcher of water in one hand
and a coffee pot in the other one.
Water constantly filled and our coffee constantly filled.
Larry would keep filling it 12 times.
He was a kitchen ninja and a dining room ballerina.
He's kind of a rock star.
I always enjoyed going to Michael's, you know,
because it was a good, good place to go eat
and everything like that.
[SIRENS WAILING]
One day, I saw the fire truck going down the highway
and I thought, "I wonder where they're going."
All of a sudden, I heard Michael, uh, in a panic,
um, you know, saying that there was smoke.
Man, I sad, "Michael's steakhouse is on fire."
Everybody cleared the building.
Uh, we had thick black smoke
just belching out of the north picture windows,
And within three minutes, the whole kitchen area
was just ablaze.
The Fire Marshal's office was contacted.
The fire started in the basement,
and there had been accelerant used in it, and a lot of paper.
As the investigation started to take turn towards looking at, "Okay, this fire was set."
I got calls from Michael and and Larry, weekly.
Finding out "What's going on? Where you at? Did you find out who did it?"
As far as I know, they never did figure out exactly
who had done it.
After Michael's restaurant burned down,
it left a giant hole in that community.
And Larry, he decided to reopen the Michael's brand,
in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
LARRY: How we doing right now?
REPORTER: This family-owned steakhouse has been aged to perfection
after spending nearly 60 years in Worthington, Minnesota.
LARRY: I see a lot of the same people coming.
REPORTER: Larry Michael Lang is the son of Michael Lang,
who opened Michael's Spaghetti House in 1949 after returning from the war.
In 1956 he decided...
He remodeled and then decided to change it to a steakhouse.
One of his customers mentioned he thought getting away from the spaghetti house
would be better.
REPORTER: Thick steaks are just one of several
mouthwatering items on the menu.
But many of the regulars come to Michael's looking for one thing.
The onion rings.
You won't find any frozen rings in this kitchen.
Every orders of Michael's rings is handmade,
beginning with the batter.
Staff makes a secret recipe three gallons at a time,
the onions are then cut by hand,
battered by hand, then fried by hand
with Eye on KELOLAND, I'm John Wilson.
ZACH: But then there was a problem with the lease, so he opened it again.
After that, Larry's mother, Olive, got very sick,
and she passed away.
And Larry's sister, Linda,
who was living in Los Angeles at the time,
she flew back home to live with Larry.
And you got to keep in mind, they lived, and they still live
in that house 90 yards away from that original Michael's restaurant.
And then Larry's father got sick,
Michael, and Michael is the one that really pushed Larry
into the restaurant business, since he was six years old
And Michael was Larry's best friend.
His dad was his best friend in the world,
and then, he passed away.
So tragedy after tragedy after tragedy,
I mean, nothing was going right.
Michael's never reopened,
so Larry worked at other people's restaurants as a cook.
When I found him,
we went to the Wilmont Saloon No. 7
in Wilmont, Minnesota,
a town I had never heard of before
with a population of under 200.
Oh, yeah, they all, when they come here,
they... The first thing they say is
"I want to have onion rings", and "Is Larry here?"
Yes. And then, I say "yes."
"Can he bring them out?" "Well, Yes, he can."
♪ Have I told you lately that I love you?
♪ Could I tell you once again somehow?
♪ Have I told with all my heart and soul
♪ How I adore you?
♪ Well, Larry we're telling you now ♪
Well, thank you.
[PATRONS WHISTLING]
You enjoy those onion rings.
No matter where Larry is,
people will drive hundreds of miles if they have to,
just to have these onion rings.
We followed him to Sioux Falls,
and we followed him to Brandon
and some of the different places he's been,
and the one thing that doesn't change are the onion rings.
The onion rings have been our biggest selling item by far.
ZACH: When I first told him I want to film him for this documentary,
he wasn't sure at first.
My brother's shy.
ZACH: And I had to reach out to the Wilmont Saloon.
He needs people to tell him sometimes what's best for him.
[ZACH READING] Hi, Lynn. My name is Zachary Capp.
My mother and I both spoke with Larry extensively,
and it was apparent that he wanted to make sure
you were on board with the idea prior to committing.
Hi, Zach.
Yes.
I spoke with Larry last night.
And yes, he is on board.
Lynn A. Johnson. Attorney at Law.
So I put a team together, a team that I trust.
Uh, Zach explained it to me
by saying that he would like to possibly do
a, uh, a food show,
for like a television series called American Food Legends.
He said the other thing would be just to do something,
you know, like a documentary
that would make Worthington proud.
What I signed on for was called American Food Legends.
And this was going to be the pilot of a show
that went around the country
meeting local...
food legends,
and telling their story insort of a one half hour episode.
Yeah, he called me up randomly and said,
"Pete, I got the greatest idea for a documentary.
"It's about this guy named Larry Lang.
"He makes the world's greatest onion rings,
"and he lives in this little town in Minnesota."
I make a lot of docu stuff.
History Channel, Discovery Channel, you name it.
I was like,
"Zach, that sounds like the most boring doc I could ever think of."
First, I invested in a company.
I formed a company with my brothers, CappBros,
and got hats printed.
I mean, we're Capps. We need caps on our head.
And I invested in amazing equipment
Top-of-the-line Canon cinema cameras,
essential accessories, drones.
I wanted the best of the best.
Best sound equipment. I was all in.
I flew everybody out to Minnesota,
where the production began, and it was a ton of fun.
We interviewed some amazing people over those first 12 days.
We reunited a garage band, who wrote a song about Larry.
They were called Dead Man's Party.
♪ Everything that he serves is made by hand
♪ and fresh that day
♪ He wouldn't have it any other way
♪ They all say
♪ I don't wanna have Larry's life
♪ He leads a hard one no fun inside
♪ I don't wanna have Larry's life
♪ He goes home alone at the end of the night
♪ I don't wanna have Larry's life ♪
ZACH: And who else? We interviewed all the mayors from Worthington.
I always admired him for his service
to Worthington, and just his enthusiasm.
And you tell Larry to bring his trombone, of course.
Wow, there would be Larry and a he'd have a trombone.
Everybody knew Larry, because he was, he worked day and night.
Anybody with a great story to tell
about Michael's or Larry's or those onion ring,
they came out of the woodworks, the woods.
They came out of the woodworks, or woods. What is that phrase?
Larry would take pockets full of dimes.
Back then, you could use the payphone,
and he'd order food from his suppliers during school.
I kinda like working with him.
Any time you were there, he was there.
They had something about service.
And really, at the end of the day, it's all about serving.
And it's all about service.
My mother, she's the type of person that can walk into any room
and give her five minutes,
and she'll know just about everybody in the room.
Oh, my God the funniest thing.
I'm sitting next to Eddie last night from Utica,
and Eddie says, "Lexy, take a look at this.
"There's George Foreman with the bodyguard behind him."
But he probably needs that.
ZACH: My mom really just helped me
get in the door with the Langs.
I mean, it's not easy getting in touch with Larry.
I'm gonna follow right behind you.
Right.
Good angle for you?
Yeah, you're at a great angle. Yup.
-I'll move around if... -Oh, no need.
ZACH: Looks like you've been doing it your whole life, right?
Yeah.
Pretty much every day, right?
-Yep. -All right.
Yeah, I'm just talking to you for small talk,
but yeah, just keep doing your thing.
Okay.
We keep going every day.
ZACH: Oh, okay.
Great.
That way these are the best flavor.
ZACH: Uh-huh. Cool.
You can go ahead and walk,
walk on out with it.
-Walk back to the... -Mmm-hmm, yep.
My name is Larry Michael Lang.
ZACH: And Larry, how long have you lived in Worthington, Minnesota?
I've lived in Worthington since... 1954.
What's your favorite thing about living in Worthington?
Oh, it's a wonderful town.
I... It's just... For me,
seeing Larry every year of my life,
seeing how quirky he was,
how beloved he was in the community,
I knew there was a story here.
Are there any, um, favorite
school memories that you have?
Anything would be fine.
Oh, just...
The overall.
My name is Linda Lang, and I am the sister.
I shouldn't say I'm the older sister to my brother,
but I'm the older sister.
ZACH: If Linda wasn't Larry's sister,
I don't think I would have had any access to Larry.
-All right, Larry. -ZACH: Did you have a double cheeseburger, just now?
-Yeah. -ZACH: All right, let's get out there. I've got you.
The price is right, two nights.
I grew up here in the 50s, 60s, 70s,
and then went out to L.A.
in the 80s and 90s.
She starred in a straight-to-VHS project
called Mother Goose Workout.
She played Mother Goose, and she wrote the songs.
Hi, girls and boys. I'm Mother Goose.
Welcome to the Mother Goose Workout.
[KIDS SCREAMING]
♪ Here's a way to keep in shape with Mother Goose
♪ It's so easy, 1, 2, 3
Everyone say "abdominal".
ALL: Abdominal!
ZACH: Linda saw this film as an opportunity
to spring her family into the spotlight,
where they belong.
♪ There's no business like a restaurant business
♪ Like no business we know
♪ Every day, we try to make it better
♪ Every day, we show our humble friendship
♪Nowhere could you get that happy feeling
♪ When you are serving that special dish
♪ Like onion rings
♪ There's no people like restaurant people
♪ We smile when we are low
♪ Even when you're serving
♪ And there's something goes wrong
♪ Like dropping trays and breaking plates
♪ Even though it sounds as though it's not worth it
♪ We're all for one and one for all
♪ Let's go on with the work
In my mind, this movie was a win-win.
It was a win for me, I was following my passion,
and it was a win for the Langs,
who had experienced so many tragedies in their life
that they were due for a win.
MAN: Do you think that there is a void that you are trying to fill?
You're asking me,
Do you think I replaced my gambling addiction with this film?
I don't think I did.
I think you might think
I might be trying to fill that kind of void.
But, to me, it's a healthy void,
a void that was empty that should have been full
for a long time.
That's my passion void.
Well, what should the relationship
between documentary filmmaker and subject be?
A documentarian should be a fly on the wall.
Were you?
At first, I was.
One with you and me, Larry. just a quick selfie.
[LINDA LAUGHING]
Oh, my goodness.
Here we go.
And then, I got involved in the story.
I started to make things happen.
I wanted to...
change his life.
I threw a birthday party for Larry.
[PEOPLE SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU]
It was a really eclectic crowd,
and I wanted Larry to have a fun night.
God knows he needs to have fun.
I don't know how much fun he has anymore.
The birthday party didn't feel
like a big enough ending for this movie.
I just wanted the happiest ending ever made
in the history of cinema.
So I thought,
what about a big parade?
The Tri-States Hot Country Highway US95
celebrating Turkey Week.
-Gobble gobble. -Gobble gobble.
ZACH: Turkey Day is a big festival in Worthington, Minnesota,
where the whole town comes.
There's thousands of people there,
and they line up on Main Street
and there's a big festival and a parade.
Before the parade, they have
something called the Great Gobbler Gallop,
where Paycheck, the turkey from Worthington,
faces off against Ruby Begonia
who's the turkey from Cuero, Texas,
and they race down the main street of Worthington,
and whoever wins the Great Gobbler Gallop
is the champion.
DARLENE MACKLIN: Well, it was our hope and intention
to have Larry be one of the judges for the Great Gobbler Gallop.
Well, she thought it would be nice,
because we're filming the documentary out there,
Larry could come,
and then have a featured role at Turkey Day.
DARLENE: You had actually talked me into asking him,
he might have thought, you know, a little bit of...
maybe a little bit of pressure having to do that.
-That's what I think. So he wanted, he thought... -ZACH: Okay.
...he had, he should do it for the documentary, I think.
ZACH: Paycheck's race team let us film their practice,
and they granted us permission to feed the turkey
Larry's onion rings before the big race.
Paycheck. Racing food.
Paycheck, racing food.
Yeah!
The turkey loved the onion rings.
[PAYCHECK WARBLING]
Here we go.
MAN: Not in the lake, not in the lake.
Go, Paycheck.
We weren't sure if Larry was gonna come.
And Darlene told me
that Larry called her back, and he was very nervous.
DARLENE: We ended up having to find someone else,
'cause, I think, at the time, he just said yes hesitantly
when he first agreed to it,
and then, after he thought about it,
I think it just made him a little bit uncomfortable
to be in front of all those people with a stopwatch,
especially, you know, being a timer.
That's just not Larry's thing.
He likes to be in the background.
Because Larry didn't show up,
in my mind, I thought Turkey Day was a bust.
And the crew went home, but in the back of my mind,
I kept thinking, "We're gonna come back."
At this point in the production,
I had already spent a fortune,
much more than I wanted to.
It was a significant chunk of my inheritance.
I became obsessed with finding the greatest ending to this movie,
no matter what it took.
Later that year, my mom and I went back to Worthington.
I went there to go visit my grandmother,
and I wasn't planning on filming.
I just stopped by the Langs' house,
and I didn't film the scene,
because I didn't know there was going to be a scene,
and maybe that's a rookie mistake.
This is the first documentary film I've ever made.
But anyway, Larry told me
his mother had come to him in a dream and she told him
to follow the music.
And then, a couple minutes later,
Larry hands me a magazine calledBadlands Monthly.
Badlands Pawn Gold and Jewelry is here to save the world.
The most unbelievable business on the face of the Earth
is right here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
and the pawn industry will never be the same.
We're giving you more of what you want.
More electronics, more jewelry, more musical instruments,
more guns, more gold, and more rock and roll.
It seemed clear to me and my mom
after Larry handed us the Badlands Monthlymagazine
and told us about his dream,
that he wanted to work here.
Then he handed you a magazine...
And he said, "This place has been appearing in my dreams."
Okay.
And...
It just so happened that my mom knew
the owner of the Badlands facility, Chuck Brennan.
Badlands is where the music is,
and he showed Zach a pamphlet of Badlands he had in his house.
But, that's an enormous coincidence,
considering Chuck and Lexy know each other.
Isn't it?
My mom and I flew to Newport Beach,
where we went to Chuck's House, his beach house,
and I told him the whole story.
I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, right here,
and obviously everybody from this region
has had the onion rings or heard of the Lang family.
And the Badlands was just getting going, and just opening
KISS was coming to do a performance.
Paul Stanley is one of the owners of the Badlands Project.
Chuck pulls out his cell phone,
he calls Paul Stanley from KISS, and he said,
"Paul, I'm doing this thing with onion rings for the new Badlands Speedway
"and it's gonna be huge."
I remember having a conversation with Zach
about how he could get KISS involved,
And I'm like, "I don't understand how KISS is involved in this
"in the first place, but if you insist upon it..."
You can kind of treat it like a challenge on The Apprentice,
where, you know,
in order to win, or to, in this case, get the contract with Chuck,
you need to impress his advisors.
CHUCK: They're real foodies.
So, when I was talking about onion rings
to Paul, and brought this up,
he said he'd like to try them.
On the condition that KISS liked the onion rings,
Chuck said he would feature them all summer at the racetrack.
LEXY: You know, how you had that dream,
and your mom, Olive, God rest her soul,
her name's Olive, right?
How she said to you in the dream, "Go to where the music is."
LARRY: Yeah.
Well, I mean, and then you thought,
because of all that's going on over there with the music
that's... you wanted... That's kind of was the desire, right,
in your heart, 'cause I know you had been in Sioux Falls before,
and I just, I feel my gift in life is being a connector,
and helping making people's dreams come true.
I told Larry and Linda,
"You, uh, you should come and cook these at the show, before the show."
So we invited him, to Badlands,
to come out and tour the facility.
When we were in the room...
When Chuck brought Linda and Larry into the room,
and after they toured the Badlands...
He sat him down and he said...
I took the liberty of finding out you make
about $500 a week, right?
In Wilmont? Is that right?
So here's a check, for $17,000...
Oh, my God!
...made out to you that covers you
as an advance on your royalties
for these onion rings until the end of race season.
Larry was gonna make 50% of all the onion rings sales at the race track.
So, my suggestion isthat you tell the guy in Wilmont
to take a hike.
And you go to the bank and put this in your account
and miss one day of work.
Because once we do this deal,
you're not gonna go back to Wilmont anyway.
ZACH: The thing about Larry is he's so loyal.
That's just the way he's wired.
It's as if he doesn't want to lose his job at the Wilmont Saloon,
despite the fact he was presented with a better offer.
ZACH: It's a lot to take in, huh?
Hey, Larry.
I know it's a lot to take in.
Why don't we go take a road, or drive up the road
and look at that kitchen, see if it will work?
-That okay. -Yeah.
I should take a look at the kitchen before I decide...
ZACH: After that meeting, we went to go look at
the cook space for the KISS taste test,
and Larry hands me the check. He said "Here, do you want this back?"
Do you want this check back till I...
-No, it's not my check. I didn't give you the check. -MAN: No. [LAUGHS] It's yours.
-ZACH: It's your check. -No, but I just...
He said "Hold on to it."
If you deposit it, then,
then you've made up your mind.
If you don't wanna work here, then rip it up.
I haven't said yes or no yet.
ZACH: I know, I know.
-'Cause I don't work that way. -Larry, that's up to you.
I know you got a lot to think about,
but he would want an answer soon.
Remember, you said that. So...
So, I... I just...
nothing for sure yet.
ZACH: Nothing for sure.
But at least make the rings tomorrow night for the band.
Mike and Lynn said you could take the night off.
They don't need to know anything about this yet, but...
Mike and Lynn? They know about this?
ZACH: They don't know about the offer.
They know, they know that you're making the rings for the band.
-Okay, -They said you could do that.
Okay, so tomorrow I do, I do...
But then Friday and Saturday, I'm...
LINDA: You're at Wilmont.
Okay. I just want to make sure.I don't want to leave them...
ZACH: Well, think about it.
But tomorrow night we're good, right?
This is a good spot for tomorrow night.
You could make 'em here.
LINDA: You like this, Larry?
I wasn't worried about KISS loving the onion rings.
Anybody that eats these onion rings loves them.
They're addictive.
The secret's in the batter.
I mean, I order most of the supplies here at the bar,
but he brings his own supplies in for that recipe,
and he does not...
He has it in a brown bag, and he doesn't share what's in that brown bag.
He mixes it, and he takes his brown bag back out.
So, no one ever knows what's in that recipe.
It's his secret.
It was a homemade recipe that...
has lived on for 60 years now,
and people still want 'em. And so, uh...
It's...
Nothing. You know, it's...
Oh, so, we get to see a movie too?
-ZACH: You're going to a concert. -Oh, okay.
Yeah.
ZACH: So, Larry, you know Gene Simmons?
Gene Simmons... Movie star?
ZACH: No, he's in KISS, the band.
Oh, my gosh.
So that...
I know the name of the group, but I can't tell you very much.
-So... -ZACH: Yeah.
Well, Gene Simmons has a big tongue,
and he's gonna wrap his tongue around these rings.
CHUCK: Larry had the rings set up in the dressing room,
in one of the areas of the dressing room,
and we brought Paul in after he was doing, getting ready for the show.
-Where is legendary Larry? -Right here, Paul.
-There he is. -How are ya?
Good, good.
You're...
[INHALES AND EXHALES]
Your smell precedes you.
CHUCK: And he sat down with Larry, and tried the rings
and, uh...
It was very interesting, because you could tell his mind was
thinking right away. And I didn't know if he liked 'em,
or if he didn't like 'em,
or what was going on,
and I didn't want to put him on the spot.
I don't usually eat onion ringsand I'll tell you why.
Because most of them aren't any good.
You know better than me.
I'll get onion rings that are pre-formed,
that are chopped up onions, or the batter's not good.
But there's nothing like a good onion ring.
So, uh...
-We're ready. -We've been telling him all about them, Larry.
It doesn't need ketchup.
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]
I'm gonna eat a few.
CHUCK: So when he left the room I went into his dressing room backstage at Badlands
and said, "What, do you think?"
He said "Oh, they're great, some of the best onion rings I've ever had."
He went back and got some more and he sent
Gene in to get some and sent Eric in to get some...
God, that is good.
-I like them. -CHUCK: Not bad, huh?
-These are good. -That's good.
Like I told you, Larry,
-if Paul digs them, you got a gig at the track. -These are awesome.
Yes, you're...
You're officially set up for
Larry's bad onion rings at Badlands Motor Speedway.
We got a deal.
-It's all good? -These are awesome.
All right.
KISS just loved your onion rings.
How do you feel?
I know, I just...
You feel good?
Yeah, I...
It's amazing.
ZACH: This is the greatest onion ring moment in the history of South Dakota.
I love it.
ZACH: Clearly Larry had no idea who KISS, the band, even was.
And although it was a fun moment,
Larry was still hesitant to agree to Chuck's offer.
The saloon is in his ear,they're telling him, "Don't go,"
[PHONE RINGING]
MIKE: Hello?
Hey, Mike, it's Zach. I saw I missed a lot of calls from you,
but I didn't get any messages.
What's up, man?
MIKE: I understand you're trying to steal Larry from our saloon.
ZACH: They didn't wanna see Larry go.
He's their golden egg.
If he leaves,
who's gonna come to this little saloon?
To me, like, the onion ring documentary is like
not something worth putting years of your life into.
It's an interesting, like, short doc about a quirky character,
but he went, like overboard,
trying to finish this movie, and that's, that to me...
What, Zach's passion,
like what makes Zach want to make this movie
is so much more interesting.
I was only concerned about what was best for Larry and the movie.
And I knew the Badlands was a grand stage,
and it was gonna be the happy ending that we deserved.
PETE: A few months later, Zach said,
"Big news, Pete."
"Chuck signed an agreement with Larry,
"and Larry's onion rings are gonna be
"at Badlands Speedway."
The number one thing when you're producing
a documentary about a person,
is that that person has got to be on board,
to open up, and have their life filmed
and give you a lot of time.
And, Zach didn't, was not able to get Larry on board for that,
and I, and I don't think...
I think, 'cause he really didn't wanna do the movie, ever.
It seemed like Larry was being asked the most of
and also the most uncomfortable with this whole process.
I love working with a team. I'm a team player.
I love collaborative experiences with people.
I like it, because it is a lot of turn...
a lot of moving wheels in the filmmaking engine,
and they all got to move together.
We started colluding behind Zach's back
about making the movie about him.
They were telling me that they were feeling weird,
and they didn't think Larry even knew that he was in a documentary,
didn't want to be part of the documentary.
So, um...
so I sent an email to Sean and Pete.
[DAVE READING]
I think Sean was on the same page.
Making a movie about Zach tryingto make this onion ring thing,
just telling the true story of it...
I think Drew was absolutely not on the same page.
DREW: I still have family in the area around Minnesota parts.
People will be surprised, um,
if it's not a documentary
about Larry's onion rings, and, um, that alone.
I flew everybody back.
Even Pete from Australia.
And I put him up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
for the the grand opening of the Badlands Motor Speedway.
PETE: It was pretty clear at that point that Zach was in over his head,
and didn't really know what he was doing.
I went in, intending to film Zach,
and I remember that first day at the speedway.
After I arrived,
I started getting shots of Zach, kind of like, surreptitiously,
kind of like, you know,
I'd catch a shot of him when he was, like, looking the other direction,
or get a shot of him, like, kind of wandering, like, walking around.
At the time I was cons... I was on the fence
of whether the movie was gonna be about Zach,
or whether the movie was about Larry,
and I was still kind ofthinking at the back of my head,
like, this really shouldn't be a movie anyway.
There's something called the sunk cost fallacy
that I think is very important to define in the context of this story.
PETE: I think he was starting to look at his bank account,
and realize that, like, he was in too deep, you know.
"I've already put in so much money into this project.
"I have to finish it. Otherwise, it's a loss."
And I'm like, "Well, the worst thing you could do
"at that point is to keep sinking money
"into a project that is sinking, you know?"
So, we had, like, several days
to film like the build up to Larry's big onion ring launch.
And so, the speedway had, like, a cartoon face of Larry,
like, all over the place.
And I'm like, "Zach, what's going on?
"Shouldn't Larry be here?"
Larry called at least two or three times,
and says, uh, "Chuck, this is, uh, Larry Lang.
"And we're not gonna... I'm not gonna...
"We're not gonna... We're not gonna do it, bye!"
Hangs up the phone.
ZACH: Because we couldn't get a hold of Larry
we were kind of looking for something to film.
[CHUCKLES]
And I was trying, we were scrambling.
PETE: Larry was ghosting us. He wasn't answering. He wasn't...
He wouldn't come shoot with us.
We even talked about filming at the Wilmont Saloon,
and around that time, I think...
Zach had some kind of, like, falling out
with the owners of the Wilmont Saloon,
and they wouldn't let us film there anymore.
They accused Zach of trying to steal Larry from them,
um, which was pretty accurate, to be honest.
Larry was supposed to have gotten the day off from Wilmont
to make the rings at the racetrack,
and, as we feared, he didn't show up.
My mom, who was back here in Las Vegas,
she managed to get Larry on the phone,
and she conferenced me in.
We talked to Larry.
Larry, What's wrong?
Right.
Well, Larry, what we wanna do with you, it's not much work at all.
It's really, it's gonna be easy,
and it's gonna be easy on your legs.
And, uh...
But, but we're planning on coming to see...
[LEXY SPEAKING]
[LARRY SPEAKING]
Well, Larry, I gotta...
Well, um, sorry, Larry, I have a team here
that I flew in from around the world
just to see you
and I've spent a lot of money,
and I mean, I have to see you today.
[LARRY SPEAKING]
[LARRY YELLING AND CRYING]
[HANGS UP]
[TONE BEEPS]
[LEXY SPEAKING]
He's not fine, did you just hear that?
PETE: He broke down in tears and he hung up the phone.
He just broke down in tears and he hung up the phone.
Oh, my God, he just yelled at me. I feel heartbroken.
I feel like my heart just shattered in my chest.
Are you shitting me?
Yeah, I mean, I... I understand that.
I think the problem is, uh... that...
Larry was never really on board from the get go
and Linda was,
but unfortunately, Linda is not Larry.
[LEXY SPEAKING]
Stop with the fucking B-roll shots.
B-roll doesn't make a movie though.
B-roll... B-roll is like what you cut away from when you're not...
When you don't have your character onscreen for a few seconds,
but if your character isn't in the movie.
There's a couple... There's a couple options,
I mean, it could be a short profile piece,
where we use what we shot last fall.
That's an option. Um, the other option is
we break the fourth wall and it's a behind the scenes thing
of us struggling to get Larry
but he doesn't want to do it.
[LEXY SPEAKING]
ZACH: I think you're wrong.
He didn't...
ZACH: I think you're fucking wrong.
Will you shut the fuck up and listen.
Hey!
Sorry to scream and curse at you
but you're not hearing, you're not seeing what we're seeing.
PETE: If Larry's the good guy...
Larry's the good guy, are we the bad guys?
SEAN: You know what the most
interesting documentary here is gonna be?
A documentary about
how not to handle the subject of a documentary.
The crew...
They...
It was too much for some of them to handle the drama.
They thought we were making a movie about a man
that didn't want a movie to have... No, sorry.
They thought, the crew...
The crew thought we were making a movie
about a guy who didn't want to be in a movie.
SEAN: You loved the rabbits,
and you want to tend the rabbits,
and you want to pet the rabbits.
But...
that's not what happened.
ZACH: It's not... It's not the movie we set out to make
-you know. -No.
ZACH: 'Cause Larry never really wanted to be in the movie from the beginning
and he just got... He just got pushed into it.
There shouldn't be the drama.
[LAUGHTER]
There shouldn't be the drama.
And the drama came from...
I don't know, did all these deals happen
for the sake of the documentary?
I'm not the villain.
I refuse to accept that.
Sean was very closed minded.
He was supposed to edit this project,
I moved to Los Angeles.
After that, I kind of distanced myself from the project,
and I think Zach really resented me for that.
And he basically told me to go fuck myself.
Wanted to give me back my Capp Brothers hat, which is...
the worst thing you could fucking tell me.
I wasn't gonna deal with... I wasn't gonna listen to him.
I wasn't gonna let him
put the brakes on this production.
So Larry never showed up
to the Badlands Motor Speedway grand opening,
despite that fact that his face was on billboards,
it's on containers.
So Linda ended up rolling up her sleeves,
and making the rings herself.
Then I found out this was the first time she'd ever done that.
The following day was out last day of filming,
and we hadn't seen Larry one time.
Fuck!
I had knots in my stomach,
I was crying on and off, I just...
I felt lost for a minute there.
I felt like my crew turned against me,
like they were
criticizing my approach to this movie.
[EXHALES] It was... It was very hard.
You got Drew in the backseat who's
spouting out existential thoughts.
All of these things that we have to...
Wait and counterweight and... I mean out brains are just...
That's just what they are,
and we don't do a very good job of, um...
always sorting them out. So we go with what we know.
PETE: Yeah.
It's... [SIGHS]
You know... For the same reason
Larry doesn't want to be on camera,
I think, I mean, I...
I'm... To a lesser extent,
I mean, I'm just... I'm worried about
what other people think of me, like, perceptions. They...
They... People say they don't matter,
but they matter, big time.
You got Pete, who's making sense, I think,
but, it was... I mean...
They're... They're all kind of frightened.
They don't know what's gonna happen next.
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
What have I done?
I don't think I did anything wrong.
But...
Maybe I got too close to their lives.
I'm feeling really defeated at this moment.
He yelled at me on the phone
and here we are,
sitting in a rainstorm in the car.
I hadn't felt this low
since right before I had checked myself into rehab.
And I didn't think I would hear from Larry again.
Zach was like, completely deflated.
But in a way, like the... In my...
In my own way, like, I was kind of excited
filming Zach,
and seeing how sad and deflated he was.
I'm looking at a picture of Larry Lang.
I might have pushed him too far.
I definitely pushed Larry outside of his comfort zone,
and I feared that he hated me,
but he didn't. He doesn't hate me.
We finally got Linda on the phone
and it was like Larry's day off from work or something,
and he agreed to let us
come over and like
film him in his house.
On the way to the Langs.
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Hi, Linda.
-LINDA: Hi. -Hi, Linda.
LINDA: Hi, there, come on in.
ZACH: Thank you.
LINDA: Is it stopping?
ZACH: Oh no, it's coming down hard.
-Hi, Larry. -LARRY: Hi.
ZACH: Nice to see you. Can I give you a hug?
LARRY: Yeah.
ZACH: I brought you some Cherry Cokes.
LARRY: Oh, great. Thank you very much.
ZACH: You got it, man.
So are you feeling rested today?
I'm doing okay, yeah.
ZACH: That's good.
I was a little worried yesterday
after our phone call that I might have upset you
and I hope I didn't,
'cause I want to make sure we're on good terms.
Oh yeah, just...
-[INDISTINCT] -ZACH: Yeah.
It was a long day.
I know. I just...
Yeah, I care about you and your family, that's...
I just wanted to say that, and...
I just hope you're not mad at me at all.
-No. -Okay, that's good.
Why don't we go out front? Want to go out front,
while there's still light?
Is there a rainbow, Larry?
No.
Oh, look at that lightning, Larry. Wow!
There's the rainbow. Straight ahead, coming down.
LARRY: Oh, yeah, I see it now.
There's the rainbow.
That's really something. You saw that and I didn't.
ZACH: Look, it goes all the way.
Well, I gotta get Linda too, let me get Linda.
You gotta see this rainbow, it's unbelievable.
LINDA: Oh, it is?
ZACH: Come on out. LINDA: Oh, my goodness.
Look, it goes all the way up...
Oh, there it is!
Here, take a step down,
-you can see the whole thing. -That's where it usually is.
Yes, that's a lovely rainbow.
Oh, we have a whole one too.
You're going towards our rainbow, Larry.
LINDA: ♪ If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
♪ Why oh why can't I?
♪ And we, and you, and us
[LAUGHTER]
ZACH: Wave, Larry.
We're waving to the camera.
LARRY: Sure appreciate all the things you did.
Hey, my pleasure. Our pleasure.
PETE: Zach, give Larry one more hug.
Larry, one more hug over here.
-[LAUGHS] -Right here.
-Oh... [LAUGHS] -PETE: Real deal, come on.
[LINDA CHUCKLES]
I love you, man.
LINDA: Thank you. Thank you.
You... I mean, you have taken...
You blossomed us...
I mean, you...
You've made what was gone come back.
So thank you.
My pleasure.
[LINDA LAUGHS]
LARRY: Will you be comingfor the different... work, or...
At the speedway every once in a while?
ZACH: No, I think we're done filming,
but I'll be coming to visit.
-LINDA: Thanks again. -Have a great night.
LINDA: Okay, bye!
Marvin Gaye. Take it!
♪ The world is just
♪ A great big onion
♪ And pain and fear
♪ Are the spices that make you cry ♪
[MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY]
Larry never cashed the $17,000 check.
He ended up working at the saloon all summer.
Linda ended up working at the speedway.
Since Sean quit the project,
I ended up moving back from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
to edit the version of the movie
that I saw, in my head
and I enlisted the help of my friend Julian.
My name is Julian Williams.
I'm a comedian and writer in New York City.
Zach had flew me out to Las Vegas
to help him put together what he had done.
ZACH: We made a film called Lord of the Onion Rings.
And we sent a cut to Dave.
I live in Los Angeles
and I've been a television producer for nine years,
and I watched what they sent me.
And he flat out told me
'cause he's also one of my best friends, he said,
this is... You're not gonna make any money with this movie,
you're not gonna recoup your losses.
I found out Pete and Sean were secretly recording me.
And when Dave told me about
this new direction of the movie,
I mean it was hard for me to come to terms with it,
but once I took a step back and...
kind of absorbed the full scope
of what they were presenting to me,
I was on board.
Zach asked me if I'd help him out,
and I told him that I would edit.
I was in so deep, financially,
that I was willing to do whatever had to be done to...
get my money back.
I started working on this
in... I think October.
But it was like right on the heels of my divorce.
So at the beginning, it was like a godsend,
because it was a great distraction.
to come out to Vegas and edit.
I started dating Dave in November,
and he showed me the cut that
Zach had sent him, and I liked it, um...
But I felt like it had some unanswered questions,
like, I wanted to know what happened at the speedway.
The speedway is for sale.
And what happened at Wilmont.
The Wilmont Saloon is for sale.
What was going on with Larry.
He doesn't work. He's collecting unemployment.
And what about the rings. Where could I get the rings?
The onion rings are not being served anywhere.
And it seemed like
all the answers pointed to that this story
had turned out really sad.
I was in the process of recutting the movie.
uh... Which I thought was doable, but a challenge,
'cause there was like 300 hours of footage
already shot that I was sifting through.
But, um, then I found out that he was still filming
and, uh, told him that
we had enough, I thought the movie was there,
but he was insatiable. He just wouldn't stop.
Zach invited me to join the Capp Bros team,
and at that point, that just sounded like a lot of fun.
And also I thought maybe I could help
make things right for the Langs, you know.
I think everyone sort of thought that as they
joined the team.
And Zach's positivity and his likeability
and his genuineness, uh,
made it really easy to be enchanted with the whole idea.
In retrospect, maybe I should have stopped.
Cut my losses and walked away.
But I didn't.
This train's gonna keep moving.
This onion ring train is gonna keep moving.
Just gonna keep riding the wave.
I still hadn't delivered a happy ending for the movie.
What have I walked into?
ZACH: I wasn't gonna stop until I achieved
The most spectacular onion ring moment
in the history of the world.
Oh my god!
[YELLING IN EXCITEMENT]
LEXY: We're going to Minnesota.
ZACH: And finally, there was a breakthrough.
The jackpot ending that I was seeking.
I'm not sure why you wanna go to Minnesota right now,
but I heard it's all about onion rings.
ZACH: This news was so big
that I knew I had to deliver it to the Langs in person.
Going to see Larry and Linda.
LEXY: Larry, oh my god! Can you believe we're here?
Okay, so, as you know,
We've been working on this project for
over two-and-a-half years, just telling your story,
and you know, it's been an adventure,
and about five months ago, I had a dream one night.
And my dream was Raider Rings.
ALL: Cheers!
[EPIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[FANS CHEERING]
COMMENTATOR: Touchdown!
Everybody knows these onion rings.
Oh!
Wow! Those are good.
The Oakland Raiders. They're currently in Oakland.
And they're relocating to Las Vegas, where I'm from.
Oh, they are?
ZACH: They're reloc in 2020.
Up until last night, it was just an idea,
and then I'm gonna let my mother take over
-and tell you what happened last night. -Okay, so...
About last night... Everyone uses that hashtag.
About last night. Well, about last night...
Last night, I'm out to dinner with my husband.
You know, every Thursday night,
he goes to the same restaurant: Piero's.
Piero's is the premier place to eat out in Las Vegas.
Has been for years and years and years.
It feels like an old Vegas place,
'cause it is.
You never know who you're gonna run into at Piero's.
I've run into more famous people at Piero's.
FREDDIE GLUSMAN: A deep fryer's a deep fryer. It's heated with gas.
And there's oil in it.
And you drop the onion rings in the basket.
And then you pick up the basket, take out the onion rings.
But you don't do it with your hands, 'cause you'll burn your hands,
'cause the oil's hot.
Okay?
I've been married four times.
I was married to Diahann Carroll, movie star.
You know, Diahann Carroll?
Right.
Uh...
One, two, three, four, wives.
So Freddie Glusman says, "Okay, let's do a tasting."
I'm gonna get all the Raiders here, Lexy.
He's gonna get the owners, the coaches, the assistant coaches,
and we're gonna do a tasting of your rings.
-Wouldn't that be amazing? -And I... I brought you guys, this
just to celebrate this moment.
-[LAUGHS] -Yeah, Raider hats
-for each of you. -Oh, my goodness!
-Oh my... -Wow!
Oh my, that's beautiful!
LEXY: Okay, so listen, I mean, nothing's done yet.
ZACH: Nothing's done yet, but it's a tasting.
I want to fly you both to Las Vegas soon
and do this tasting
and I'll put you up in a hotel and make you very comfortable.
LEXY: Stay a night or two. ZACH: And...
And Freddie will take care of...
Make sure you have everything you need
-for the tasting. -LEXY: In the kitchen.
ZACH: The president of the Raiders will be there, and...
If all goes well,
you guys are going to the NFL.
-LINDA: Wow. -Wow.
[LAUGHTER]
It was absolutely thrilling to be on a private jet
with Lexy and Zach and Dave.
And the visit with the Langs had been sweet
and heart breaking.
It looked like they were putting all their stuff in boxes
to move out of their family home.
And Dave and I thought
all the footage that had come before
combined with this trip to Worthington,
that was more than enough footage to make a movie.
The angle of the movie that I was planning to edit was,
Zach kept trying, but he failed,
and I thought we could end the movie with,
"Look, he's still trying." The end.
DAVE: I think we have the movie.
LEXY: We could tell.
ZACH: Not yet.
-Okay. -ZACH: We could have it.
I think we do have it.
ZACH: What's going on here? LEXY: What is going on here?
-ZACH: What's going on here?-But there's still the tasting.
ZACH: All right. Right there, Larry.
We're gonna get on that moving walkway.
ZACH: Oh, it's not moving. Oh no.
All right, we're just gonna walk then.
Checking into the hotel.
Stepping over it.
Hey, good for him.
[LAUGHING]
It's possible.
He's soaking it in.
We're picking them up right now.
I literally just dropped them off
at their hotel 40 minutes ago.
And we're going to ride to Piero's
where the tasting is happening tomorrow night.
The most epic onion ring moment in the history of the world.
So tomorrow night, we're doing the Raider Rings.
Um, we're super-excited to have them at Pieros,
you know, we've had them ourselves,
we absolutely love them.
ZACH: You've never had them? Oh, you've never had them.
No, we haven't. I was just saying that.
ZACH: It's all right. It's okay. No, it's real.
-Okay, cool. I was just... -ZACH: It's a documentary, man.
Oh, is it a documentary? On what?
-On what? -ZACH: On this guy's onion rings.
-Oh, okay. -ZACH: I've been filming for two-and-a-half years.
-Okay. -ZACH: All over the country, man.
Oh, I thought it was something like a promo reel...
This is the grand ending,
-ZACH: this tasting, tomorrow night... -Oh, is it?
-ZACH: ...of this movie. -Okay, perfect.
DAVE: A deal with the NFL would allow them to keep their home.
They'd have a very lucrative, gigantic legacy
of onion rings for their family,
and they'd be able to live a comfortable life,
comfortable retirement, whatever they wanted to do.
We got some really good footage, we got logistics,
we walked through the kitchen,
we got a good tour of the whole facility,
went up to the offices.
ZACH: Here's Larry
in the premiere Italian restaurant
in all of Las Vegas.
And Larry, all of a sudden,
had this lucid moment, saying,
what an amazing opportunity this would be
to honor his family's food legacy.
...my father died.
-Uh-huh. -So there's really been no...
name transfer.
-So it's... -He's trying to
keep the legacy of the rings alive.
What's your last name?
Michael... Michael Lang was my dad's name...
-Lang. -Langs...
And I worked all my life with him.
We would call them... I mean, we would do like, La...
Lang's, you know, Raider Rings.
ZACH: And that was the moment where...
I don't know, it just felt like Larry was
finally on board with what was happening.
We walked back to where we were sitting
and the owner of the Raiders, Mark Davis,
was sitting with Freddie at the table, and Zach, like,
perfectly did a... His little...
his spiel, showed him the clip.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]
DAVE: And he did a beautiful pitch,
And Mark was... Mark was, I think, impressed.
Zach was flying me in the next day
for 24 hours for the tasting
and hearing this news from Dave made it sound
like this was all possible,
like this really could be
the deal that changed everything
for Larry and Linda.
And it was intoxicating. I was super psyched.
Larry, take a picture with him.
ZACH: So that was the guy that could make it happen.
DAVE: The rings, your father's rings
could be in the NFL because of that guy.
Well, I was real friendly.
DAVE: You were perfect. You did everything right.
[LAUGHS]
That was exactly right.
You think he'll keep me posted then?
-[LAUGHS] -DAVE: You're damn right.
Thanks a lot.
DAVE: Zach was already outside,
waiting for the valet.
And I thought he was going to be with Zach,
but he, um... He just wandered away.
DAVE: He's outside.
ZACH: No, he's not, he's not out here. DAVE: Yes, he is.
[LINDA SPEAKING]
DAVE: He is, he's here.
ZACH: Where? I've been outside, Dave.
DAVE: No, he... He walked out here.
ZACH: Larry!
Larry! Come back!
Larry! Where are you going?
He's so excited, he's running away.
ZACH: I probably should have seen this as a sign
that Larry was not up to the task.
But there was such a big moment,
there was a lot on the line that...
I didn't really see it for what it was.
ZACH: Where are you going, man?
But it was terrifying when Larry wandered away.
ZACH: Dude, I can't even...
Everything about Larry's experience this day,
from when I picked them upat their house in Worthington...
-Hello! -Hello there, how are you doing?
-ZACH: Good, how are you today? -Are you ready to...
ZACH: Hello, Larry.
...to flying on an airplane,
for really only the second time in his whole life...
Oh God, TSA pre-check. We can leave our shoes on.
Oh, thank you! Thank you.
ZACH: ...to being in Las Vegas,
to seeing the sights...
ZACH: It says sexy on the key, Larry.
-[LAUGHTER] -LINDA: Don't give Larry that.
I thought it was him just adjusting
and being a little overwhelmed in this new environment,
and I thought he'd be okay the next day.
First of all, because Zach is a genuinely good person,
and a very generous friend,
it was hard for us to accept that
he was doing anything wrong
but it was pretty evident quickly
that this was a manipulative relationship.
But, uh, you know, we were there
helping out our friends,
and he set up something huge and exhilarating.
LINDA: Larry wanted to go in and play blackjack.
ZACH: Larry, you want to play blackjack?
LINDA: And he doesn't know how to play.
ZACH: You don't know how to play?
Before you go to bed tonight, maybe you can
-play a little bit. -Why don't you play?
Why don't you show him how to play?
-Oh, I don't gamble. -Oh, I don't know, he just...
But maybe Dave would.
I don't know how to do it...
I don't gamble, you know, I used to have
a gambling problem a long time ago.
-So I... -Oh no, I didn't know that.
No, I haven't played in a long time.
Well, that's a good thing to stay away from.
No, yeah, I mean...
It... It can be just so...
You know, you think, "Oh just one more time.
"Or just... Next time I'll win."
-Right. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. -And it's so deceptive...
-It just... Snares you, just like that. -You know like... Yeah.
I mean, I really did have a problem, I...
I actually had to go to rehab for it.
-Oh... -And...
But I'm perfectly fine now, nothing fazes me.
[LAUGHS]
And now it's just part of the fabric
-of my hometown. -Except having the Langs around you.
ZACH: We had just went to In-N-Out burger,
right after we went to the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign.
The day was starting great.
Then we went shopping.
The Langs went in to Smith's grocery store
and picked up the ingredients for their secret batter.
We were very respectful of that,
we didn't go into the store with them.
I flew in Mike Lurie from Washington D.C.
They walked back out and we got to the restaurant,
they were prepping, prepping for the day.
Linda was overwhelmed, it's a foreign kitchen for her.
The mixer wasn't right.
Linda needed certain specifications
to make the batter the right way
and the first batch didn't turn out right.
LARRY: We're gonna start over.
When the mixer wasn't working,
Dave stepped in with a shovel-sized egg-beater
to mix it.
Everyone wanted this tasting to be a success.
I was standing next to Larry, and...
For a man that had been cutting onions his entire life,
and making onion rings,
It's as if he forgot everything he ever knew.
ZACH: Oh, be careful, Larry.
ZACH: Peel the onions. Peel the skin.
No, no, no. Don't...
And that's when it really
started to get in my head like,
something's not right here.
So Dave and Pat from Piero's
ended up cutting onions.
The whole thing was already surreal.
but, um, witnessing Larry's mental decline
was an almost incomprehensible thing to process.
Larry was completely uninterested
in helping Linda make the onion rings.
Stay with your sister. Keep an eye on your sister, okay?
-She's making onion rings. -Oh my God!
-ZACH: Yeah. -That's wonderful.
ZACH: Molly, thank God she had like,
over a dozen years of restaurant experience.
She ended up cooking the rings with Linda.
Dave, Mike and Molly were all supposed to be filming
this giant tasting, and by the end,
the only one with a camera was Mike.
That's amazing.
[MIKE CHUCKLES]
-They're really good. -MIKE: Awesome.
How are the onion rings? Did you try them?
Yeah, they were really good.
-MIKE: Awesome. Awesome. -Thank you.
MIKE: Thank you. Thanks for trying them.
How are they, how'd they taste?
-They're good. -MIKE: Good?
WOMAN: Very good. MIKE: Awesome.
-Do you like them? -Oh my God, they're so good.
Where can I buy them? I need them.
MIKE: [CHUCKLES] Give me a doggy bag. Yeah.
-Fabulous. Yeah, doggy bag. Damn sure. -[MIKE CHUCKLES]
-MIKE: How they taste, man? -These are delicious.
They really are. They're very light.
MIKE: Crispy?
They are not that oily, crispy, fried...
MOLLY: What's going on?
MIKE: Uh, I think Zach's back there with Larry.
MOLLY: Should I go back there do you think?
MIKE: Um, I think they're good.
ZACH: Hey, Larry, get off the ground.
Larry was all over the place.
It's all right. All right, come one.
This cook was frying eggplant, and Larry just took his utensil
and started frying it himself.
MOLLY: We were so not prepared for this.
We didn't know what to do in this situation.
We knew that outside the kitchen,
was this high society,
high stakes tasting going on.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]
MIKE: What do you think about them?
MIKE: You like 'em?
-MIKE: Awesome. -They're very good.
MIKE: Awesome. Thanks for trying them.
MOLLY: Larry wasn't making the onion rings,
so I just tried to help Linda
because she... It seemed to me that
she was focused on the onion rings
because potentially, her family's livelihood
and legacy depended on it.
And so she was much less focused on the fact that
her brother was obviously disoriented.
Larry started to say things
that weren't making any sense.
MOLLY: Is this it? Were you looking for this?
Oh man.
But Larry, we're in Las Vegas.
This is Piero's restaurant. It's not your restaurant.
[LARRY SPEAKING]
Larry, stop, come here.
And it became evident that
he thought he was somewhere else.
Come on, Larry, please.
MIKE: Larry, okay, listen.
ZACH AND MIKE: They're not your customers.
MIKE: This is Las Vegas. You're not in Minnesota right now.
MIKE: They do, but this is a separate thing.
It's just a tasting of the onion rings themselves.
-It's not about your service. -ZACH: It's just a tasting of the onion rings.
MIKE: No, it's not. It's just a tasting.
-It's not about your service. -Can you talk to him a minute?
Yeah, there's... There's a head chef.
That's... It's his kitchen, Larry.
He was talking about service.
So we tried to send him out to the tasting.
Larry.
Do you want to serve these?
Come with me,I'll show you where we're going.
ZACH: Larry, stop. Larry, stop. Larry.
I was concerned that he would hurt himself
being in that kitchen.
And the deal.
Larry, I got to take you on a drive.
I'm gonna take you back to your room, come on.
Yeah, you do, at the hotel.
No, don't worry. Larry, please.
I got you. Come here, Larry. Larry.
Part of me was shaking my head in horror
at what was going on and another part of me
was still hopeful that this was gonna
change things for them
and make their lives better.
But more than anything, there was no time to think.
We were all just trying to keep our heads above water.
We got to pick up some stuff. Come on.
MIKE: All right, we gotta get outta here.
Come with me. No. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop...
Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop...
Stop. Let go. Let go.
Zach called his Uncle Ryan who Larry grew up with.
Yeah, I need help. I need you to occupy him.
It's like a favor. I mean...
I don't know what to do, I'm...
I'm kind of scared here.
DAVE: I'll follow you out. I'll follow you out.
Good. Push that. And then walk out. Good.
ZACH: I'm so scared. DAVE: Good.
ZACH: I'm so scared.
DAVE: Good. And then follow... Follow Zach.
ZACH: Come on, Larry.
DAVE: No. We're good. We're good. We're almost there.
Thank you very much for all you've done.
-DAVE: No, no, we haven't done anything yet. -Thank you very much.
DAVE: Wait, Larry, stop.
ZACH: Got him in the car.
DAVE: Okay.
ZACH: Okay. Are you there?
Ryan.
They guys really enjoyed you the...
ZACH: Larry, you did a great job tonight.
Oh, yeah, they were all...
They we're heading outside, they were gonna have some more fun.
-But it... It seemed like... -[ZACH TALKING INDISTINCTLY ON PHONE]
Once you got in there, they start...
ZACH: I really do. Okay. All right, good bye.
DAVE: It went well. I think it was good.
Yeah, I mean... for a last minute hurry and everything.
DAVE: Oh yeah.
ZACH: I don't know, man. I think I completely...
I know what it's like... I don't know what it's like.
I mean, you ran that restaurant for decades.
Now you're on vacation, Larry. Look, you're in Las Vegas.
And you get to go home tomorrow.
[LAUGHS] I'm staying here.
ZACH: You're staying in Vegas?
-Oh yeah. -ZACH: You're not going home?
No.
ZACH: Oh, Larry, now we're back at the Westgate,
where Elvis Presley used to stay.
Thank you very much.
Come on, Larry. Come with me.
LARRY: Okay.
Gosh.
No, put your wallet away. It's all taken care of.
LARRY: You sure? ZACH: You're my guest.
Put it in you're pocket. Hey, there's Ryan. Ryan.
♪ Oh my darlin'
♪ I love you
♪ And I always will
[IMITATES ELVIS] Thank you. Thank you Very much, everybody.
[LAUGHING AND CHEERING]
ZACH: Larry, should we get some cokes brought up?
Oh, yeah. That'd be fine.
Okay. Hi. Hello. Hi.
I don't know if I'm gonna be coming back.
Just tell him the time. You gotta handle the event there.
Oh, I'm not... I'm not even at Piero's.
I'm at the Westgate at Larry's hotel room.
Wh... Linda's cooking with Molly,
and Mike's there too, filming
and I'm here with Dave and Ryan and Larry.
And there's a separate storylinehappening right now.
I will talk to you later.
You handle the room. You handle the room. Okay.
I don't know how else to say that.
DAVE: Yeah, we should head back.
Should we?
What just happened?
[EXHALES] He's gotta go home.
DAVE: He's going home tomorrow, right?
Oh my god.
DAVE: Zach,
in the briefest way possible, tell me what just happened.
Larry all of a sudden had a meltdown
in the restaurant kitchen.
He thought he was in Minnesota. He thought he was at Michael's.
He really thought he was at Michael's restaurant,
and he had to go manage the staff,
and he started touching the food.
And then, I don't know, he was getting in Linda's way,
and Linda couldn't make the rings
and he kept touching the eggplant,
and the guys were like, "What are you doing?"
And I really don't know what the fuck just happened.
Hi.
ZACH: My Uncle Ryan's with Larry,
but we had to get somebody on the way to relieve Larry,
-so we have a... -To relieve Ryan.
... nice caregiver going over there.
She's a sweet gal name Kathy.
And she's gonna stay with Larry,
but I think the goal
should be to get you back as soon as possible.
To be with your brother.
MOLLY: Nailed it.
[ALL CHEERING]
MOLLY: This is where the gloves come off. MIKE: Yeah!
Great job.
Thank you, my public.
PETE: As a filmmaker, there's a line
that every person has to draw for themselves,
like, how far should I push this
and how much can I manipulate my subjects' lives?
"Hope." he kept saying, "This is giving me...
"This gives me hope." When you brought the hat
and you were talking about all these things
I said, "Larry, do you want to do this?"
"Yeah, it gives me hope. That..."
All these bad things have happened.
PETE: Larry's had a lot of these failures and tragedies
and losses and stuff like that.
And I feel bad, but I don't think it's
Zach's place to try to
change that and try to give Larry like a big success,
or this big, you know, national publicity or this fame.
And I don't think Larry ever really wanted that.
I think it... I think it originally, um,
was a very pure motive as in saying,
this is something that he thought was really gonna be
a good topic, a good subject.
ZACH: How did I know when we were done filming?
You know, I would have kept filming.
Had it not been for Dave,
who told me, "Look, enough is enough.
"We got what we need, let's just make the movie."
LINDA: Hi. ZACH: Everything okay.
LARRY: Yeah, everything's fine.
LINDA: Hi, Larry.
ZACH: I truly hope that this film ultimately lays a path
for the greatest onion rings in the world to live on forever
and be enjoyed by as many people as possible.
I'm glad you came. I live here.
He wants to order room service.
-That okay? -Yes.
PETE: I really like Zach.
He's really kind and he's really giving,
and he's very passionate.
You guys, when was the last timeyou had room service?
-I don't think I've ever... -So just today?
Zach's enthusiasm and his willingness
to throw money at this project were powerful.
We didn't say no, we chose to help him
which meant that we were enabling his addictive behavior
and made us complicit inputting Larry in this situation.
Okay, Linda. I'll see you in the morning.
Larry, I'll see you in the morning.
Get some sleep tonight, and enjoy your dinner.
-Okay. -Okay.
You know, if he pulls off the Raiders,
pulls off the Raiders thing, and Linda and Larry get
a percentage of sales from an NFL concession,
that will change everything for them.
Then you can list all the pros and all the cons
and even if all the pros outweigh the cons,
the fact remains that they never asked for this.
He wanted to give this to them.
But I think, uh...
This amount of change
is something that someone should ask for.
ZACH: Did my gambling addiction rear its head
in the form of making this movie?
Yes.
I'm still a recovering addict.
I've had to own every decision I've made,
and coming to terms with that has been painful.
I thought I was rescuing Larry and the onion rings,
but really, I needed to rescue myself.
It's like a month ago, Larry and Linda were out here,
and just got this note in the mail.
"Dear Lexy, Zach and crew, I know time has gone by,
"but we want to express to you our thanks
"for an amazing opportunity you arranged for Larry and I.
"You treated us so royally,
"from our flight to our rooms and unending delicious food.
"Our flight back was so beautiful.
"Thank you. God bless.
"Sincerely, Linda and Larry Lang."
That's so nice.
Look at this, it's so... so great!
I mean, what a crazy journey.
DAVE: Do you think Zach will ever give up?
I don't know.
I...
If he's...
He'll find out that some of this stuff
comes back in your face.
I don't know, but...
I guess you can't get all...
All wired up.
Somebody does something to you, you gotta...
You gotta keep on going.
DAVE: Even if they put a wire on you right there.
[LAUGHING]
Well, you gotta...
just keep on going.
♪ I'm back and ready to go
♪ From the rooftops shout it out
♪ Baby I'm ready to go
♪ From the rooftops shout it out ♪
♪ The world is just
♪ A great big onion
♪ And pain and fear are the spices that make you cry
♪ Oh baby
♪ And the only way to get rid
♪ of this great big onion
♪ Is to plant love seeds until it dies,
♪ Uh-huh
♪ Hey world, we got a great big job to do
♪ Yeah
♪ We need you
♪ And everybody who loves truth
♪ Oh, you know we've got to clean up this place
♪ And reach for a higher goal
-♪ Yeah -♪ Yes we do, now
♪ We gotta be headstrong about rightin' the wrong
♪ And make a lot more happy songs
♪ Oh, oh, baby
♪ The world is just a great big onion
♪ And I don't care is the face people like to wear
-♪ Yes it is now -♪ Oh, baby
♪ And the only way to get rid of this great big onion
♪ Every one single soul's...