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On Cinema at the Cinema Season 16, Episode 9: Celebrating the Life of Gabriel "G" Amato
If there's two episodes after this instead of just one, this will be treated as a special episode rather than part of the actual season 16 run. If that's the case, we'll reformat this page under the funeral page.
| ← S16E08 | On Cinema at the Cinema | N/A → |
| ← S16E08 | Complete Timeline | N/A → |
WHY! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO DIE?
— New Heidecker in the song “Daddy's Gone”
| Celebrating the Life of Gabriel “G” Amato | |
| fdfas | |
| Season | 16 |
|---|---|
| Episode | 9 |
| Master of ceremonies | New Heidecker |
| Tributes from | Manuel Giusti (prerecorded) Gregg Turkington maryellen giorgio Joey P. (unprompted) |
| In attendance | Kaili Amato Axiom Barbara Reynolds Assorted residents of the Grand Terrace Manor |
| Crew | Mark Protch Grok |
| Order of service | |
| Prelude | “Adios Nonino” |
| Opening hymn | “benotafraid” |
| Welcome address | New Heidecker |
| Memorial video | |
| Reflections from family and friends | Manuel Giusti Gregg Turkington |
| Musical tribute | “Daddy's Gone” performed by New Heidecker |
| Closing song | “timeofyourlife” performed by New Heidecker |
| Aired | November 26, 2025 |
| Runtime | 49 mins. |
| Video link | HEI (subscription required) |
The funeral for G. Amato, referred to as Celebrating the Life of Gabriel “G” Amato and considered the ninth episode of On Cinema at the Cinema's sixteenth season, aired live at 12:00 p.m. PT on November 26, 2025 on HEI Network from the crownwynne.
New Heidecker, G.'s adopted son, was the master of ceremonies, and paid tribute with several songs, including the hymn “benotafraid”, the original song “Daddy's Gone”, and a cover of Green Day's “timeofyourlife” with Axiom. Gregg paid tribute to G. by talking about their shared interest in movies, while also briefly reviewing Zootopia 2 (2025, 108 mins.). Grand Terrace Manor resident maryellen read Bible verses and Manuel Giusti, who has been deported back to Italy, paid tribute in a prerecorded video. Mark Protch was an usher for the event, and Grok assisted New with event planning and his speech.
Also present at the funeral were members of the Amato family and The Amato Group, including Kaili Amato, Joey P., and giorgio, G.'s twin brother who had previously only been mentioned in joeyinterview. New claims they were not invited, though still allowed Giorgio to give a speech. In Giorgio's Spanish-language speech, he laments the poor financial decisions and suspicious acquaintances G. had made late in his life, and vows to “leave no stone unturned” when it comes to investigating his brother's death and who scammed him, before leaving. Joey also interrupts the funeral to lament how many people G. had pushed away leading to a funeral that, he claims, could have had 300 people. New attempts to get Mark to eject him and Kaili out of the funeral, leading to the two walking out on their own.
Synopsis
Quotes
Hello? Kaili.
— Gregg Turkington starting his speech
Mr. Amato also owned the famous can of soup from the Ma and Pa Kettle movies which sadly, due to his own fault, um, not due to any prop master anyone associated with the Pep Boys movie, Mr. Amato ate, which was not the best… [New interrupts] Okay, anyway, he ate the soup, which was not the best thing to do.
— Gregg Turkington during his speech
I normally would be reviewing movies with you, but this is not the week for that…
— New Heidecker, to Gregg Turkington
I don't know where I go from here because… G was, uh, the only man that ever really believed in me, and maybe the only man who ever, you know, really loved me, and uh, I don't… you know, I don't know, uh, I don't know what that says about me, but he's gone and he ain't coming back.
— New Heidecker
Today, we remember my brother, Gabriel Amato. He wasn't just my brother, he was my twin. As children, we were inseparable, and our mother dressed us in the same clothes, which made perfect sense, because she simply had to buy two identical outfits. We were also very close, but as we grew up and graduated from college, Gabriel told us he wanted to move to the United States. We said, “Are you crazy?”… No.
He wanted to become a successful entrepreneur in California. He considered it the land of hope and dreams. He loved movies and dreamed of working in Hollywood, but he was realistic, and he knew he would never be a movie star. He just wanted to be in the action. He worked his way up from the bottom in the service industry, after doing a little job as a busboy to see a program with Jimmy Stewart about the Carnival of… Hollywood celebrity… something in English that I don't remember. This… then, in the service industry, he started as a dishwasher, then as a waiter, and restaurant manager. And finally, he ran his own event space. The Amatos from Argentina are a wealthy family, and we were able to help Gabriel in his ambitions to expand the Amato name here in the United States, in the San Bernardino Valley. It was a great honor for our family to see our brother succeed in the country that he loved so much.
But today I am sad. I regret it so much. I wish I had never come. I wish I had told my brother to go home and be with his family. Now we learn that the end of his life was marked by bad investments and suspicious people. But Gabriel was so stubborn… Today we remember the good times and say, “Gabriel, it's time to come home.” We will make sure that the morgue sends his body back to the fa… to the family plot in our hometown of Buenos Aires. And finally, we will investigate how my brother died. How he had access to that poison.
We will also closely audit his finances here in the United States, with the specific intention of discovering any fraud against me… that was… any fraud committed against my brother or the Amato family. You have my word, we will leave no stone unturned!
Get uh… Google Translate for that… beautiful speech nonetheless.
— New Heidecker, after Giorgio Amato's speech
I just want to say I think it's sad. I think it's sad that a man who spent 40 years of his life here in the San Bernardino Valley, a man who was a respected member of his community, a man who had many good friends, ended up here. I'm sorry, I don't wanna… it's just, you know, if it was up to me, there would be 300 people here. But um, you know, you just didn't listen to me G. You pushed people away and you didn't listen.
— Joey P.'s speech
Mark, Mark, I like you, Mark, and I'm just going to tell you right now stay where you are and don't come near me, okay?
— Joey P., when New ordered Mark to eject him
Trivia
- This is the longest episode of On Cinema at the Cinema to be counted as a regular episode, with a runtime of 49 mins.
- As Gregg notes in his tribute, he is wearing the Jonathan Kington outfit he used to wear on Decker.
- The funeral was originally supposed to stream 2 hours earlier in the day, at 10:00 a.m. PT, but a shuttle delay resulted in the funeral beginning 2 hours later.[1]
[META]
- The actual reason for the two-hour delay was due to the HEI Network site and app going down right when the event was about to occur. On Cinema at the Cinema's social media accounts and newsletter announced a delay 4 minutes into the planned start of the event.
- The event still had some connection issues for some, but otherwise went on as planned.
- Like The Trial, this was an event that was pre-recorded yet streamed live as if it was happening in real time.
Observations
- New briefly acknowledges the fact that he has practically no one left in his life that believes in him or his work. G. is dead, Dr. San is dead, Gregg only stays on to be on what he believes is the top movie review show, Toni has left him twice (and only ever loved him when she was an alcoholic), Joe is not on speaking terms (and has been seen frequently with Toni as of late), and Toni's therapy tapes seen in the 9th Annual On Cinema Oscar Special have her state that even New's closest associates, including Axiom, Manuel, and LaRue, all “talked shit” about him behind his back.
- While New sat at the front row on the left side (facing the podium), Axiom notably sat in the back row on the right side.
Links
- HEI Network (video, subscription required)
“Hoy recordamos a mi hermano Gabriel Amato. No sólo era mi hermano, era mi gemelo. De niños éramos inseparables, y nuestra madre nos vestía con la misma ropa.
Lo cual tenía mucho sentido porque simplemente había que comprar dos prendas iguales. También éramos muy unidos, pero al crecer y graduarnos en la universidad, Gabriel nos dijo que quería mudarse a Estados Unidos. Le dijimos : “¿Estás loco?”… No. Él quería convertirse en un empresario exitoso en California. La consideraba la tierra de la esperanza y los sueños. Amaba el cine y soñaba con trabajar en Hollywood, pero era realista. Y sabía que nunca sería una estrella de cine. Solo quería estar en la acción. Se abrió camino desde abajo en el sector de servicios, después de hacer un trabajito como 'Busboy' para ver un programa con Jimmy Stewart sobre el Carnaval del …. Hollywood celebrity … alguna cosa en inglés que no me recuerdo. Este …. entonces, en el sector de servicios primero comenzó como lavaplatos , luego como mesero, y gerente de un restaurante. Y finalmente dirigió su propio espacio de eventos. Los Amato de Argentina somos de una familia adinerada y pudimos ayudar a Gabriel en sus ambiciones de expandir el nombre Amato aquí en Estados Unidos, en el Valle de San Bernardino.
Fue un gran honor para nuestra familia, ver a nuestro hermano triunfar en el país que él amaba tanto.
Pero hoy estoy triste. Me arrepiento muchísimo. Ojalá nunca hubiera venido! Ojalá le hubiera dicho a mi hermano que volviera a casa y estuviera con su familia. Ahora nos enteramos de que el final de su vida estuvo marcado por malas inversiones y personas “sospechosas”. Pero Gabriel era tan terco… Hoy recordamos los buenos momentos y decimos: “Gabriel, es hora de volver a casa.” Nos encargaremos de que la morgue envíe su cuerpo de vuelta a la fa… (mumbles) a la parcela familiar de nuestra ciudad natal de Buenos Aires. Y finalmente investigaremos, cómo murió mi hermano. Cómo tuvo acceso a ese veneno.
Tambien auditaremos con lupa, sus finanzas aquí en Estados Unidos. Con la intención específica de descubrir cualquier fraude cualquier fraude contra me… que fu… cualquier fraude cometido contra mi hermano o la familia Amato. Tienen mi palabra, no dejaremos piedra sin remover!”