Love and dynamite are in the air as I introduce 2 guests to an early pilot of what would eventually become The Muppet Show from 1974, guest-starring a pregnant Mia Farrow. **** 🎙 Guests: Brian Arnold ( @phillyradiogeek , Me and You and a Blog Named Boo ). Joey O. ( @ImGonnaDJ24 , Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Muppets Valentine Show on YouTube . 2. Muppet Wiki on The Muppets Valentine Show . 3. Jim Henson’s Red Book entry about getting this pilot green-l...
Feb 13, 2019•49 min•Season 2Ep. 25
It’s Christmas Eve! Tune in as we bring Advent to a close with the first Christmas special I ever remember watching, from 1978. **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans ( @mserinmevans ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. My taped copy of this is interrupted in the middle by a WHYY telethon with Philadelphia TV legend Ed Cunningham . 2. The Count’s amazing ice-skating cape . 3. The wibbly-wobbly physics of Oscar’s trash can . 4. Olivia married the Pre...
Dec 24, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Remember ALF? He’s back, in podcast form! Tune in as we salute ALF’s two-part Christmas special from 1987, the single most depressing special starring a wisecracking alien puppet of all time. Content Warning: In this Christmas special, the goofy alien with the jokes meets a terminally ill child and a man contemplating suicide. **** 🎙 Guest: Jeff Somogyi ( Talkin’ Chopp , Down the Rabbit Hole , @sommerjam ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The heartbreaking true story behind ALF’s Special Chri...
Dec 23, 2018•58 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Tune in as we unearth a 1994 cash-grab video starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — or at least some version of them — a special so low-quality, it happens in a sewer. **** 🎙 Guests: Shawn Robare ( Branded in the ’80s , Cult Film Club , @ShawnRobare ). Jonathan Zelenak ( @TheSewerDen ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. About the Sewer Den , Jonathan’s massive TMNT collection, and his blog post about We Wish You a Turtle Christmas . 2. Of course we touch on the Turtles’ Coming Out of Their...
Dec 22, 2018•55 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Tune in as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming. **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans ( @mserinmevans ). Lindy Kempe ( @ieatvideogames ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Magic Johnson recorded his segment hours before playing in — and winning — a Lakers game. We don’t know the precise date, but one win was agains...
Dec 21, 2018•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Mickey Mouse drags his pals into third dimension in this 2004 direct-to-DVD Disney Christmas special. **** 🎙 Guests: Drew Crowley ( @pizzanautgo ) and John Dedeke ( @johndedeke ) from The Hourchive . **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. If you haven’t been to a Disney theme park in the last year or two, Mickey has a different face now . 2. The hippo and crocodile from “Fantasia” have names. 3. Chuck McCann, the voice of Santa, was the Dreamfinder in the original Journey Into Imagination . 4. A qui...
Dec 20, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Tune in as we attempt to make sense of time, space, and the Disney fowl food chain as we watch Disney’s 1999 direct to video Christmas special. **** 🎙 Guests: Drew Crowley ( @pizzanautgo ) and John Dedeke ( @johndedeke ) from The Hourchive . **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Donald Duck’s comically enormous, fanmade family tree . 2. Happy Duck to the Future Day ! 3. The Quack Pack intro will tell you everything you need to know about Quack Pack . 4. Does Donald’s Christmas cabin exist in a turd...
Dec 19, 2018•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 19
We are not nice, not kind, and not wonderful to 1985’s He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special, in which Skeletor’s heart grows three sizes. **** 🎙 Guests: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed are the Geek ). Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. He-Man and She-Ra are between 18 and 21 years old and gave children unreasonable expectations of what they’d look like when they grow up. 2. Thank goodness Chad is here to iden...
Dec 18, 2018•1 hr 25 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Tune in as we apply North Pole to Pinky and the Brain’s 1996 Christmas special, probably the closest the lab mouse duo ever got to actually taking over the world. **** 🎙 Guests: Joey Letson ( The Animanicast , @Animanicast ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This special won the 1996 Primetime Emmy award for outstanding animated program . 2. Joey O.’s interviews with Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche . 3. The Animanicast’s interview wit...
Dec 17, 2018•53 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Join us as we gush about the Riverbottom Nightmare Band and Kermit riding a bicycle in this episode about the 1977 Jim Henson special, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas . Pa would’ve loved this podcast. **** 🎙 Guest: Emily Rowley ( @mlerowley ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Muppet Wiki has the lowdown of all 5 cuts of this . 2. The official outtake reel . 3. The drum roll outtake reel . 4. Of Muppets and Men: The Making of The Muppet Show . 5. The Christmas Price Index . 6. The “ass sliding...
Dec 16, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Hang on to your creepy mistletoe hat as we hit the Bayside Mall for a 2-part Saved by the Bell Christmas special from 1991, in which Zack gets shook upon learning the latest girl of his dreams is homeless. **** 🎙 Guests: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny , @horrormoviebbq ). Tom Coombs ( @ClassicTomedy ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Chad’s 2013 write-up on Home for Christmas . 2. That time WWE’s Daniel Bryan got fired for choking out an announcer . 3. Puppy Su...
Dec 15, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Tune in as we trace the origins of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells , in the 1992 Christmas episode of Batman, the Animated Series . **** 🎙 Guests: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). Jay Ryan ( Sludge Central , the Purple Stuff Podcast , @SludgeCentral ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The crowdsourced origins of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells . 2. More discussion on Christmas with the Joker on Batman, the Animated Podcast’s Batman, the Animated Podcast and The Arkham Session...
Dec 14, 2018•53 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Part 2 of our Christmas donkey double feature takes a deep dive into Don Bluth’s last Disney project, a short film released in front of the 1978 re-release of Pinocchio . **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames). Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed are the Geek ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Like so many Disney movies, it’s based on a book — The Small One: A Story for Those Who Like Christmas and Small Donkeys . 2. Dragon’s Lair . 3. The Land Before Time toys from Pizza Hut . 4. Mous...
Dec 13, 2018•42 min•Season 2Ep. 13
We try to make more accurate donkeys in Nativity displays catch on like a certain elf on a certain shelf by revisiting the 1977 Rankin/Bass special, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey . **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy Kempe ( @ieatvideogames ). Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed are the Geek ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Roger Miller performing Do Wacka Do in 1966 with another guitarist, “Stubbs,” who’s wearing a Batman T-shirt. 2. Roger Miller’s Whistle Stop intro to Disney’s Robin Hood is s...
Dec 12, 2018•39 min•Season 2Ep. 12
We dig down like dogs to the bottom of the VHS bargain bin for an overlooked special from 1991 that had all the potential to become a Christmas classic, but none of the airtime. You can watch Jingle Bell Rap on Amazon Prime . **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Perennial Pictures’ webpage for Jingle Bell Rap . 2. Chad’s on, so of course we talk about Roy Rogers . 3. Fetch and Uncle Jesse are the “wis...
Dec 11, 2018•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Lace up your ice skates for a look at 3 classic holiday commercials starring McDonald’s clown in charge: 1. Happy Holidays (the ice skating one). 2. Star Wish . 3. Runaway . **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Grape jelly is good on Sausage McMuffins. 2. McDonald’s Wiki , which exists, runs down all 7 versions of the ice skating commercial. Yes, there are seven different edits, and they’re all on YouTube: 1982 : the original...
Dec 10, 2018•42 min•Season 2Ep. 10
It’s mime time at the Most Magical Place on Earth in 1978’s Christmas at Walt Disney World , featuring Shields and Yarnell as the most 1978 couple imaginable, Pablo Cruise and their indifference to help a screaming woman escape from pirates, Phyllis Diller in the world’s poofiest princess dress, the Doritos guy as a wildly off-model Geppetto, Dee from What’s Happening as an ungrateful passenger in a magical pumpkin coach, and Broadway’s original Annie singing Christmas carols with surprisingly r...
Dec 09, 2018•1 hr 43 min•Season 2Ep. 9
We blur the lines of reality, time, and space and practice peace on Earth and good will to men, women, chickens, bears, and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1979 TV special, John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together . **** 🎙 Guests: Bill Hanstock ( SBNation , IMDb , Progressive Boink , @sundownmotel ). Carlin Trammel ( Nerd Lunch , Dragonfly Ripple , @nerdlunch ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Bill’s Uncle Deadly tattoo . 2. Pro-wrestler and Muppets Most Wanted cast member Hornswoggle’s tatto...
Dec 08, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In 1987, the California Raisins missed their bus, then made a sleigh out of garbage and flew it into space in the greatest holiday special out of all holiday specials hosted by clay dinosaurs. WARNING: This episode inexplicably contains a major spoiler for the 2014 movie How to Train Your Dragon 2 . **** 🎙 Guest: Erin Evans ( @mserinmevans ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). Emily Rowley ( @mlerowley ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. RIP Will Vinton (1947–2018), the...
Dec 07, 2018•51 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Let’s have a good, old-fashioned Christmas down on the farm in 1987’s A Garfield Christmas Special , featuring the voices of Squiggy and Ursula . **** 🎙 Guest: Jeff Somogyi ( Talkin’ Chopp , Down the Rabbit Hole , @sommerjam ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Joey O. interviews Gregg Berger , the voice of Odie. 2. On lasagna as a Christmas food and how including shrimp as one of the Seven Fishes is cheating, you cheaters. 3. Dinosaur Dracula identifies all the presents in Garfield’s dream . 4...
Dec 06, 2018•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Rankin/Bass goes off the rails in its last-ever stop motion animated Christmas special, 1985’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , based on the 1902 book by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, which explains a lot. **** 🎙 Guests: Paxton Holley ( Cavalcade of Awesome , I Read Movies , Nerd Lunch , Cult Film Club , Hellbent for Letterbox , @paxtonholley ). Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Santa Claus’s growth to manhood, from J.D. Roth to ...
Dec 05, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Hanukkah is here, so here’s a 1995 special starring sock puppets hanging out with Mr. Miyagi, the dad from Growing Pains, and the mayor of Gotham City. **** 🎙 Guest: Sarah Shay ( Pilot House Podcast , Bandcamp , @thesarahshay ). Check out her 2 new albums: You Have Queer Street Cred and The Shay & Shay Radio Hour ! **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The special audio featured here is from a YouTube upload by some guy holding his iPad’s camera up to his TV screen. 2. Shari Lewis’s amazing sin...
Dec 04, 2018•1 hr 21 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Turn back the clock till it goes kerplunk — or kerplooey — to make some time for Rankin/Bass’s 1974 retelling of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas from the perspective of the mouse and his know-it-all nerdy son. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The worst thing we’ve broken that ruined multiple peoples’ day. 2. We prepared for this episode by listening to Green Day’s Kerplunk ! 3. South Park covered the song Even a Miracle ...
Dec 03, 2018•41 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Get ready to blast off for Space Church as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special , the farthest point from the bright center of our favorite galaxy far, far away. **** 🎙 Guest: Liz Twachtman ( @thelizzietea , Random Chatter Network , Enchanted Chatter ) **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. “ Some folks are in space for the benefit of nobody ,” by Jon Bois for SB Nation. 2. Our disappointment that Chewbacca’s family didn’t show up in Solo , but at least we got L3-37, wh...
Dec 02, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 2
It’s time once again to count down to Christmas Eve, starting with 3 versions of Dr. Seuss’s classic Christmas tale from 1966 , 2000 , and 2018 . **** 🎙 Guest: Michael DiGiovanni ( The Atomic Geeks , Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit , @theatomicgeeks ). Michael May ( MichaelMay.online , Sleigh Bell Cinema , @michaelmaycomix ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. , Dr. Seuss’s first — and last — feature film screenplay. 2. DiGio discovers Thurl Ravenscroft , th...
Dec 01, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 1
It’s time to dust off the cobwebs and get the Advent Calendar House ready for Season 2, featuring a new episode every day from December 1 through Christmas Eve, 2018. In between commercial teasers for all 24 episodes coming in Season 2 — though not necessarily in order — the members of the all-new Christmas Podcast Network share stories of Christmas music traditions. **** 🎙 Guests: 1. Brian Earl ( Christmas Past ) 2. Tim Babb ( Can’t Wait for Christmas ) 3. Craig Kringle ( Weird Christmas ) 4. ...
Nov 22, 2018•34 min
The Advent Calendar House presents a dazzling display of magical mischief as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Witch’s Night Out , an often remembered, then forgotten, then re-remembered Halloween classic from 1978. You can watch Witch’s Night Out at Shout! Factory TV. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. WitchsNightOut.com , the official website. 2. @BazooeyWNO on Twitter. 3. Anytown Series, a planned sequel and other holiday...
Sep 24, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 11
We’re back for a surprise summertime episode on the 1986 animated movie, The Adventures of the American Rabbit , a star-spangled box-office bomb starring the voices of Donatello, Baby Piggy, and King Triton. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Fred Wolf Films . 2. Toei Animation . 3. The late Stewart Moskowitz’s archived gallery and current website , operated by his family. 4. Too-Loose, the Chocolate Moose . 5. Ping Pong , the ...
Jul 03, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 10
We’re back! This surprise bonus episode covers the 1976 Rankin/Bass special, The First Easter Rabbit , which despite its name and main theme, still relies heavily on Christmas. **** 🎙 Guest: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A very obvious and very uncredited Velveteen Rabbit connection. 2. Easter Valley’s odd location next door to the North Pole, and Rankin/Bass’s habit of giving bad directions. 3. They named the talking snowball “Br-r-ruce,...
Mar 30, 2018•54 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In our Christmas Eve season finale, the Advent Calendar House is haunted by 3 spirited guests as we each draft our own casts of A Christmas Carol from a pool of characters from Christmas past. **** 🎙 Guests: Sue London ( @cmdrsue ), romance novelist of Christmas past. Jonathan MacFarlane ( @otherjmac ), Discoverography podcast host of Christmas present. Joey O. ( @ImGonnaDJ24 ), Y-Not Radio and Words with Nerds co-host of Christmas yet to come. **** 🎄 A Christmas Carol Renditions Mentioned: In...
Dec 24, 2017•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 8
