Put'em up, Ragu! It's time to cover the episode where Carmine tries out for the lead role in the Rocky Manicotti story, a low budget boxing flick. With the support of Rhonda, Shirley, and the Squignowski Talent Agency of Burbank (STAB), he makes it through the first round of cuts. But during the second call-back an interloper arrives. The two men find themselves roped into a sparring match, with the winner taking the part. Will Carmine finally get his chance in the spotlight? Meanwhile, Lenny an...
Aug 25, 2023•48 min•Season 7Ep. 13
This week, Laverne's relationship with handsome language interpreter Jeffrey (Jeff Goldblum in an early role) is going well...partly because Laverne has stretched the truth about how many languages she knows. Shirley decries her roommate's lie, but when she's set up with one of Jeffrey's friends, the man turns out to be a furrier. In spite of her love of animals -- and the lecture she gave Rhonda for accepting a fur coat from a handsome gentleman of her own -- Shirley instantly puts aside her ow...
Aug 18, 2023•34 min•Season 7Ep. 12
It's another boys-related episode! When Lenny and Squiggy head for the La Brea Tar Pits, Lenny ends up meeting a girl named Karen Caldwell. She's a college student studying paleontology and Lenny is instantly smitten with her - and to his shock she returns his feelings. A few weeks later, the two of them have become a cute and happy couple, to the surprise of Laverne, Shirley, and Carmine - and the chagrin of Squiggy, who worries that Karen is trying to steal Lenny away from him. But when Karen ...
Aug 12, 2023•58 min•Season 7Ep. 11
When Laverne and Shirley attend an event for would-be brides to sample the works of wedding coordinators, they find out that a couple's planned and paid-for wedding has been called off, leaving the guests and arrangements in place. Seizing the moment and snagging opportunity, Shirley knows who her groom should be: Carmine. Now all she has to do is talk him into marrying her, in spite of the fact that he hasn't proposed. Will Shirley be able to talk Carmine into chopping off a slab of wedded blis...
Aug 04, 2023•58 min•Season 7Ep. 10
*** EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING *** It's a very Charles Grodin episode to cover on the podcast! When Grodin visits Bardwells, Laverne and Shirley get very different messages from their encounter with the actor. Laverne thinks he's into her and invites him to come over for a date. Shirley, on the other hand, thinks he's going to try to steal their jobs. When Mr. Grodin arrives, he finds everyone at Laurel Vista in a bad mood and in the middle of a terrible series of fights. Shirley and Carmine are ...
Jul 21, 2023•38 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Laverne jolts Shirley awake with the news that her nebbish boyfriend David (Paul Sands) has proposed... that she move in with him! While Shirley's horrified by Laverne's choice to share furniture with David before marriage, she supports her best friend's decision and promises to run interference for a little while. Laverne and David proceed to settle in at David's place. Together, they find out there's a pretty big difference that could change their relationship forever. Once Laverne's reminded ...
Jul 14, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Frank pops into Laverne & Shirley's apartment with a pair of earrings that once belonged to Josephine, Laverne's mother. Claiming he wants to give them to Edna, he asks Laverne to hold onto them and take them to a jewelers to get them polished up. Frank tells Laverne to "pick something you like." Shirley recommends Laverne wear the earrings on an upcoming date with Willie Marsh, "Hollywood producer." But the date turns out to be an absolute dud. In a scuffle with Mr. Dick Swamp, she drops on...
Jul 07, 2023•46 min•Season 7Ep. 7
In the episode covered: After the boys puts the finishing touches on their latest movie script, Blood Orgy of the Amazons: A Different Kind of Love Story, Lenny and Squiggy try to figure out how to get it seen by big-shot actors. Their epiphany: if they get themselves onstage at The Golden Circle Awards, perhaps one Joey Heatherton, presenting for the evening, might take an interest. However, the boys are strapped for cash, necessary to get them tickets for the ceremony, save for the sock money ...
Jun 30, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Shirley, trying to dodge a bum who keeps bugging her during her lunch break at Bardwell's, notices a man nearby reading Black Beauty. She can't help but strike up conversation with the tall, dark, and handsome lug; unfortunately, she doesn't realize he's part of a gang robbing the bank next door. When the cops catch the crooks, Shirley is accused of being their accomplice and handcuffed to "Louis Armstrong" (no relation). The hoodlum makes a break for it and escapes - with Shirley still attached...
Jun 23, 2023•32 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Things get awkward for Shirley when she realizes Mike, the peppy and handsome guy she's been seeing, is seven years younger than her. The girls joke around about the difference between their nearly-thirty selves and Mike, who's not even twenty-one yet. When Mike calls up, asking to take the girls to his frat's big mixer, the giddy gals agree to go. Laverne even offers to head out on a blind date with Mike's awkward but gentlemanly friend Lyle. Laverne and Shirley quickly learn that Mike and Lyle...
Jun 16, 2023•46 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Laverne gets a surprise visit from her former fiancé Sal Malina, a sailor she nearly married in Milwaukee back in 1957 before realizing he didn't thrill her enough to give her goosebumps. Ten years later Sal's successful, rich, still handsome, and just as crazy about Laverne as he used to be. With Shirley's encouragement, Laverne re-starts their romance to see if she can make it work this time now that they're ten years smarter. Is he finally able to give her goosebumps? On pod, we talk the perf...
Jun 09, 2023•31 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Laverne, Carmine and Shirley get invitations to their 10 year high school reunion back in Milwaukee in the mail. They brings up a flood of nostalgia, but also to leads to the girls bickering. Name calling and and fisticuffs ensue. When Laverne dares Shirley to take a swing at her, Shirley knocks her best friend out and accidentally breaks her jaw. Laverne's left with a mouth that's been wired shut and Shirley's left with a mountain of guilt. Will the girls be able to talk through their issues an...
Jun 02, 2023•36 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Season 7 begins! The Squignowski Talent Agency of Burbank (STAB) books a group of acrobats from Latvia for a rather important gig, but need Laverne and Shirley to host their clients in their apartment. Not knowing what's up, Laverne plies her feminine wiles and ends up smooching a married man and angering his wife, an important linchpin of the acrobats' act. Without a pair of "Ta-Da!" Girls, Laverne and Shirley are enlisted to help. Will their big television debut work out or will it all go side...
May 26, 2023•56 min•Season 7Ep. 1
We made it to the end of the first year in California! In this Season 6 book ender, Shirley's creativity takes new shape as she writes and directs a stage play, "Murder in Mother Goose Land." It results in Shirley enlisting Laverne and the entire gang as actors in the production. Shirley's hoping to present the play before big time theatre producer, but when the performance is moved up, the group scrambles to get ready. Shirley asks Squiggy to organize their cast at Cowboy Bill's before heading ...
May 05, 2023•43 min•Season 6Ep. 22
**EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING** It's time to put on a big show! Cowboy Bills is having a regular hoot night and the whole gang wants to get in on the act. Carmine and Shirley perform a touching duet, Rhonda and Edna plot a trumpet-laden rocker, but Laverne...well, her plans to become a balladeer go by the wayside after she clears out the place with her less-than-lovely voice. Determined anyway, Laverne turns to Lenny and Carmine for help, but her caterwauling doesn't improve. Will she become a bal...
Apr 28, 2023•47 min•Season 6Ep. 21
***EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING*** It's not a wonderful life for Laverne when she slips on some lard at Cowboy Bills and breaks her leg. But when Rhonda throws one of her infamous parties next door on the very same day, she insists everyone attend without her, leaving Laverne home alone in a cast. After everyone pops back in to rub all the fun they're having in her face, Laverne wishes she had never been born and falls asleep while watching It's a Wonderful Life. All at once, she's confronted by Be...
Apr 21, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 20
Sgt. Alvinia T. Plout's (Vicki Lawrence) back! She's hiding out in Los Angeles, having run away from the Army after a love affair with a handsome fellow soldier went sour. She's hoping to cage romantic advice from Laverne & Shirley, and to use their new apartment as a hiding place while she works her grief out by moonlighting as a singer in a local club. The girls are already terrified of her, but when they find out Sgt. Plout is actually AWOL, they find themselves terrified FOR her. They tr...
Apr 14, 2023•40 min•Season 6Ep. 19
Laverne and Shirley are in the middle of breakfast when Edna interrupts them. She's worried Frank has forgotten that their fifth wedding anniversary is approaching, putting the girls smack dab in the middle of a brewing parental conflict. Hoping to ease the tension and prod Frank into remembering, Laverne and Shirley decide to get the gang together to throw a big anniversary party at Edna and Frank's very tilty trailer, where the axel's broken and the house is rocking. Pratfalls, ruined cakes an...
Apr 07, 2023•47 min•Season 6Ep. 18
When Rhonda sets up Laverne & Shirley with a couple of high rollers, she notes that the men may expect "something" off the girls for treating them to a pricy dinner. While the date goes well, the girls start to worry that they 'have' to go further with their new fellas than they feel comfortable to. So they go to Laverne's stepmom Edna for some sage advice. What will they decide? Are the guys secretly Star Trek nerds?! On pod, we talk the way the show's trying to evolve past its old habits, ...
Mar 31, 2023•32 min•Season 6Ep. 17
When Laverne and Shirley assume they've been passed over for a customary raise, Laverne writes and sends a strongly worded letter to their boss, Mr. Hildebrand, against Shirley's frantic advice. Soon after, the girls learn that they haven't been passed over for the raise at all; they've actually given a *larger* raise than is customary. They also learn that Hildebrand hasn't read the letter. To save their raises and their jobs, the girls decide it's time to pull an over-night heist, breaking int...
Mar 28, 2023•50 min•Season 6Ep. 16
**EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING** The girls throw a party to show off some of their most recent photos. During the gathering, Carmine makes the gang laugh with some funny hi-jinks and they encourage him to take an open mic gig at a new comedy club. But when the big night arrives, Carmine turns to brutal insult humor to get a chuckle out of the crowd. It works - at the expense of all his supportive friends, including the girls, Lenny, Squiggy, Edna, and Frank. On pod, Chris gets *very very* angry and...
Mar 17, 2023•49 min•Season 6Ep. 15
On pod, we talk the '60s scene of the time, some backstory trivia thanks to one of the episode's writers (thanks Cindy Begel!), and pontificate what '70s director these rock n rolla's would be involved with. In the episode covered, Laverne & Shirley are delighted by the arrival of rockers Derek DeWoods (Eric Idle) and London (Peter Noone) from chart toppers London's Bridges at Cowboy Bills one afternoon. Starstruck fans that they are, they introduce themselves to the fellas, and charmed as t...
Mar 10, 2023•56 min•Season 6Ep. 14
When a rainstorm hits Burbank and everyone's stuck indoors at Laurel Vista, Rhonda convinces the gang to spend a night in the girl's apartment playing "To Tell The Truth" - a version of "truth or dare" on steroids. When feelings are hurt and romances are threatened, the group splits up into duos to try and reconcile their differences. Will they be able to mend their broken bridges? On pod, Lisa talks about the original scripted ending for the episode while Chris does some director-talk.
Mar 03, 2023•52 min•Season 6Ep. 13
When the original Cowboy Bill asks Laverne & Shirley to watch his beach house in Malibu for a short while, the girls are on opposite ends of "beach party or not." But when they crack and do it anyway, it really kicks off. Bad weather, a massive demand for weenies from the guests, and a biker gang whose scene is excised almost entirely on the DVD edit conspire to ruin the girl's weekend. Can they keep Cowboy Bill from finding out just how wild their time at the beach was? On pod, we do our be...
Feb 24, 2023•39 min•Season 6Ep. 12
Laverne and her stuntman boyfriend Sonny's burgeoning relationship is growing deeper and closer. But when Laverne gets scared that he'll hurt himself or die - like her lost near-fiancé Randy Carpenter - they start fighting. Shirley tells Sonny about Randy, causing Sonny to preemptively quit the movie business to join his cousin selling insurance. Realizing he's unhappy and frustrated by Shirley's meddling, Laverne tries a stunt of her own to get Sonny back out on the ledge where he belongs. Mean...
Feb 17, 2023•38 min•Season 6Ep. 11
It's Lenny & Squiggy-tastic, as the boys take center stage while Laverne & Shirley head off to a Dodgers game with Pop and Sonny. Commiserating with Edna at Cowboy Bills, the boys have just come back from a silent movie film fest and are completely taken with the old-timey medium they've never seen before. Their daydreams kick in and the audience is treated to a menagerie of pastiches inspired by silent genre classics. But will these daydreams translate to woo'ing the pretty lady? On pod...
Feb 10, 2023•40 min•Season 6Ep. 10
With the passing of Cindy Williams (1947-2023), we wanted to take some time to discuss her career, both on Laverne & Shirley and other film & TV shows. She's an amazing inspiration to us both and we hope that you'll join us in celebrating and remembering her talent. She was a bright, shining light and we will miss her very much. Thank you for your patience as we had to gather ourselves during a very busy week to put this recording together!
Feb 08, 2023•59 min•Season 6Ep. 9
CONTENT WARNING - this episode discusses sexual assault, rape culture, and sexist tropes in fiction - listener discretion is advised! While the gang is preparing to celebrate Cowboy Bill's 50th day since opening, a lawyer representing a motel in Nevada comes barging in. Apparently, Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, and Squiggy stayed at this motel and caused over $150 in damages that must be paid. But wait! They were registered as... two married couples? What follows is a sitcom equivalent of Rashomon. W...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 8
This week, Shirley enters into a burgeoning relationship with a handsome pediatrician named Mark McKenzie. All seems to be going well, but there's a cloud on the horizon: he's recently estranged from his wife and is splitting custody of his young son, Bobby, with her. When Laverne discovers by chance that Diana McKenzie is Shirley's spitting image, it becomes clear that Mark may be displacing his frustrated affections on Shirley because of the resemblance. Shirley is placed on a collision course...
Jan 27, 2023•43 min•Season 6Ep. 7
***EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING*** We went VERY far in this one, you have been warned! The girls go for an audition to be on The Dating Game, but it turns out Lenny and Squiggy end up on the show instead! So, Laverne, Shirley, Sonny, and Carmine circle around the TV to watch the prime time goodness. Will Lenny, Squiggy, or Bob get to win the affections of the vivacious but vacuous Monique? On pod, we talk the energetic nature of Penny's directing, the boys being openly themselves, and a little triv...
Jan 20, 2023•51 min•Season 6Ep. 6
