Only a few short weeks ago, you were living in blissful ignorance. You had no idea that you needed comedian, writer and actor Michael Ian Black talking the films of Sylvester Stallone. But now that you know such a thing exists, you can't go on without it in your life. Smash that subscribe button, people.

With Rochelle now firmly embedded as Hi4H co-host, we kick off this episode with Rochelle and Lee looking back at some of the key films of this month. These include Darren Aronofsky's divisive mother!, comic book sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the Stephen King adaptation It, and Australian comedy That's Not Me.

Lee then ducks off to Skype to chat with Michael Ian Black about the films of Sylvester Stallone! Michael’s reasons for picking Stallone, and his interpretation of what Sly's films are really about, is a must-listen. Whether you rate Stallone or dismiss him, chances are you're going to come away from this episode with a new appreciation of the Italian Stallion.

Further reading:

• We’ve talked in-depth about Darren Aronofsky’s films before! To listen to our Aronofsky episode from January 2011, click here.
• You can google all the various mother! interpretations, but Darren Aronofsky's own take on what the film means can be read here. And an interesting rebuttal from The New Yorker's Richard Brody can be read here.
• And speaking of mother!, one thing Lee got massively wrong was citing Rachel Weisz as being the woman in the opening. A number of people had seemingly confirmed this as being fact, but it turns out the first face we see belongs to Canadian actress Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse. Which pretty much destroys the whole theory that spun out from that assumption.
• If you'd like to know more about that scene we mention from It - the one in the book that does not appear in the film - there's a good rundown of it all here.
• Michael briefly mentions Stallone starring in a softcore porn film. That would be the 1970's The Party At Kitty and Stud's (later renamed Italian Stallion to cash in on Stallone's stardom), and the story behind the film is outlined in this piece.
• More details on the Godfather Part III film that Paramount wanted Stallone to write, direct and star in can be found here.
• And here's this great in-depth interview with Stallone during the promotion of the 2015 Rocky spinoff Creed, looking back at the origins of the series and of Stallone's career in general.

Outro music: “Eye of the Tiger”, written by Frankie Sullivan & Jim Peterik and performed by Survivor, from Rocky III (1982)

The latest episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Michael Ian Black talking the films of Sylvester Stallone, can be heard on Stitcher Smart Radio, subscribed to on iTunes, or downloaded/streamed directly from our website.