Have you been to Poopies? Up on the strip?

I haven’t personally, but Jack Nicholson has. In a clip shared via tweet that’s equal parts confusing and hilarious because of how out of context it is, the actor describes a coffee shop, on "The Strip," simply called... "Poopies."

After some brief digging, I’m happy to say I now have some context for what the hell is going on here.

Poopies Origins

If you know Poopies, it might be because of a tweet from Twitter user @nitewires on March 14th that simply reads "we all hung out in a coffee shop called poopies up on the strip" with the clip attached.

Simple and to the point.

On March 28th, @PoopiesCoffee — an account devoted to tweeting out the clip daily, and sometimes multiple times per day — sent out its first missive. Jack’s been to Poopies, and it’s up on The Strip.

Questions spin out from there, regarding the clip, the people involved (why does that other man look like a Pixar character), the various spellings of "Poopies" (I’ve settled on what I think will be the commonly accepted version), and the location of the coffee shop itself.

So now, some answers.

What the hell is this?

"Poopies on the strip" is actually part of a larger segment the Criterion Collection produced for the Blu-Ray release of Five Easy Pieces. An iconic piece of Nicholson’s filmography (I’m told), that IMDB summarizes as follows:

A dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.

Sounds like some classic, grimy Jack Nicholson content as far as I’m concerned (I haven’t seen it). The segment Criterion shot covers the film’s famous diner scene, in which a waitress is "1970s rude" to Jack Nicholson’s character (read: just doing her job) after he asks for a substitution, and Nicholson is a smart-ass about it.

The whole scene was apparently inspired by Nicholson’s own personal diner experience at Poopies. Unsurprisingly, old men have a lot of opinions about diner policies.

Who’s that other guy?

The Criterion Collection

That would be frequent Nicholson collaborator Bob Rafelson, the American director of Five Easy Pieces and The Postman Only Rings Twice, and the producer of Easy Rider and The Last Picture Show.

He’s arguably one of Hollywood’s original badasses.

What and where is Poopies?

"Poopies" is apparently either a coffee shop or a diner, on what I assume is the "Sunset Strip," a famous section of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood. It’s mostly expensive restaurants and shops now, but technically used to be an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County.

As to whether the restaurant still exists or Poopies is even it’s name, it’s hard to say. After Nicholson’s initial pronunciation, he refers to a "Mrs. Pulpi" who could be the owner and namesake of the establishment or simply someone Nicholson made up.

Quick Google searches don’t turn up any Poopies or Pulpi’s in LA, but there is a bar called Poopy’s Pub in Illinois. "Pulpis Coffee" is apparently also a color of marble tile.

For now, "Poopies up on the strip" lives only in our collective memory.