The Flopcast

We're still recovering from last week's movie night (Summer camp aliens! Run for your lives!), so it's a simple show this week, catching up on our recent silly activities. Including: Kornflake on the road in search of adventure and/or relaxation; the music of Carbon Leaf; a live album release show by The Great Molasses Flood; another Moth storytelling show with Matthew Dicks; the Mayor onstage at Old School Game Show; Kevin running around an island for no good reason; and random encounters in Boston with AT-ATs, the Pride parade, and exploding rabbits. Also: It's National Dive Bar Day. So go somewhere that's sketchy, shady, and creepy (you really want all three), and belly up.

Direct download: Flopcast_374.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Last summer, we devoted a Flopcast episode to Meatballs, the Bill Murray summer camp classic. This summer, we're going to suffer through the horrifying Meatballs sequels. (It's a court-ordered punishment, presumably. Don't jaywalk in Chickentown, kids.) So for this episode, with Kornflake kicking and screaming in protest, we get started by watching and discussing Meatballs Part II. The year was 1984. Bill Murray was off busting ghosts, and wisely avoided this turkey, but the cast is still bursting with familiar faces. In addition to Soap's Richard Mulligan and Night Court's John Larroquette, we have the girl from Escape to Witch Mountain, the older brother from The Wonder Years, the robot from Buck Rogers, and Pee Wee Herman! With that lineup, you ask, how could they go wrong? Oh, they found a way. And yes, it involved a creepy E.T.-style alien who goes to summer camp. Yikes. So hang on, grab some pizza pie, and we'll get through this together. Meanwhile, we're already not looking forward to Meatballs III...

Direct download: Flopcast_373.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:41am EDT

Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are preparing for a silly, geeky Fourth of July weekend at CONvergence! It's one of our favorite conventions, it's in Minneapolis, and there is a giant blue chicken sculpture nearby. Perfect. Guests at this year's CONvergence include writers Peter David and Chuck Tingle, comedian Joseph Scrimshaw, and nerd music duo The Doubleclicks! We're also looking forward to a special CD release performance by our friends Beth Kinderman and the Player Characters! And we run through our CONvergence panel schedule: You'll find the Mayor on panels about Doctor Who, She-Ra, The Magicians, and choose-your-own-adventure books! Meanwhile Kevin's panels will cover Aquaman, Riverdale, and a variety of DC stuff (comic books, movies, and TV). Plus: We reveal our new Flopcast badge ribbons! You know the drill: Find us at CONvergence and get a ribbon. (Warning: They just might be slightly Brady-themed...) Also: We recall chasing ice cream trucks for weird frozen items, because Kornflake is celebrating National Bomb Pop Day again...

Direct download: Flopcast_372.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:05am EDT

Here at last is our God's Comics concert review! Every ten years, Kevin gets together with friends Sean and Adam to form God's Comics, a cover band that only plays Elvis Costello, Men at Work, and The Monkees. In the wake of our legendary 1999 and 2009 shows, our adoring fans demanded a third show, which happened just last month at The Hearing Room in Lowell, Massachusetts. 'Twas a festive evening of old friends, classic pop songs, and one rubber chicken. (Oh, and Kornflake almost stole a couch.) We also have a special conversation recorded right after the God's Comics show, with one of those old friends, Sarah! This talk (during which much Earth fruit is consumed, Robolar-style) covers a bunch of silly topics... but we keep circling back to Silver Spoons. (You know how we feel about goofy 80s sitcoms, and you should have seen this coming.)

Direct download: Flopcast_371.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:23pm EDT

It's no secret that Kevin and Kornflake are longtime fans of Brooklyn's ambassadors of love, They Might Be Giants. (Their matching Doctor Worm tattoos sort of gave it away.) And since John Linnell (you know, the keyboard/accordion half of the band) has a birthday this week, we're sharing a few TMBG memories, and flipping through a giant (well, it might be giant) stack of TMBG albums. Including: Kevin and Kornflake on the radio, Doornail and Kornflake on a bus, Kornflake providing a shirt for John Flansburgh (you know, the guitar half of the band) at a TMBG show, a drunk idiot crashing onto Kevin at another TMBG show, and much more. So to borrow a title from a TMBG record: join us. Let's see if we can get this whole Istanbul/Constantinople business figured out. Plus: Another Kornflake on the Road segment, in which we enter the nasty world of pantomime. (Or perhaps it's just "panto." We're still confused.)

Direct download: Flopcast_370.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:55pm EDT

Here's an extra-special, extra-weird show we've been meaning to unleash for a few weeks. It's the adventures of Kornflake and Doornail at MarsCon 2019! Yeah, we already discussed MarsCon (the Minnesota science fiction convention which also hosts our beloved Dementia Track of comedy music) back in Flopcast episode 358. But now you'll get the whole story, from both Kornflake and our perpetually giggling Flopcast correspondent, Doornail! You'll hear even more about all our Dementia Track friends (Insane Ian, Cutesylvania, TV's Kyle and Linzilla, Power Salad, the great Luke Ski, Devo Spice, Jeff Whitmire, Michael Hunter, Carrie Dahlby, the Library Bards, and more), plus the Logan Awards, Dementia Smackdown wrestling, Kornflake's Dementia Water Aerobics, the Space Oddity Music Club and Brew Pub, late night fake mustache karaoke, Boob Tree, and mini-golf at the Mall of America. Can Kornflake and Doornail recall their entire wacky MarsCon weekend before they get kicked out of a bookstore café? Let's find out. Ladies, commence giggling...

Direct download: Flopcast_369.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

It's an extra-goofy show, because we're recording from separate remote locations, AND our recording equipment keeps malfunctioning! But we're here anyway, just for you. And this random catch-up sort of show features: Joe Cool vs. Mr. Cool; Star Wars burlesque; stand-up comedy with Dana Gould, Bobcat Goldthwait, and friends; Queen Jessica Mercy at the Watch City Steampunk Festival; our ESO Network boss visiting New England to check up on us; a rare solo show from Letters to Cleo frontwoman (and our favorite singer) Kay Hanley; the Speak Up storytelling podcast live in Connecticut; burritos and benefits in Rhode Island; Kornflake's rain-soaked 5K walk; and Kevin and Brittany (of Good Enough Cosplay) reporting live from their weird 5K run. (But was it really 5K?) Enjoy, as we all collapse in exhaustion.

Direct download: Flopcast_368.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

We're just days away from the third ever performance of Kevin's weird cover band, God's Comics! So this week we have a special interview with our God's Comics co-conspirator, Sean Fullerton! Kevin and Sean recall their mid-90s glory days at the late great Grind coffeehouse, and how their love of Men at Work, Elvis Costello, and The Monkees led to this silly cover band project. Join us at The Hearing Room in Lowell, Massachusetts on Saturday, May 25th, 2019! It'll be festive and ridiculous. And speaking of May 25th, that's also National Wine Day, which means Korkflake has filled the studio with odd little boxes of wine! Needless to say, an impromptu Flopcast taste test breaks out, and there are no survivors.

Direct download: Flopcast_367.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:23pm EDT

It's our goofy anniversary show, as Kevin and Kornflake celebrate seven years of The Flopcast! Yes, we've released a Flopcast every single week since May 2012, because clearly there is something wrong with us. Join us as we run through some fascinating Flopcast stats! (Have we done more Top 4 1/2 Lists or Chickens in the News? Stuff this very important information into your brain.) We also look at the top ten countries, and the top ten US states, for Flopcast downloads. (They're still ignoring us in North Dakota, probably because of our controversial statements about their founder, Jeremiah Bismarck.) Also: It's Stephen Colbert's birthday (and we still miss the Dana Carvey Show), we try to escape from an escape room (with no help from Rupert Holmes), and we're preparing for our God's Comics reunion concert. We hope to see you there. It's May 25th in Lowell, Massachusetts, and it'll be almost as ridiculous as listening to this show for seven years.

Direct download: Flopcast_366.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:26pm EDT

Kevin and the Mayor road trip down to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for an evening of science and silliness with George Hrab and the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe. (We assumed Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey would meet us in Bethlehem... but we had a lot of growing up to do.) Meanwhile Kornflake checks out an online concert by our favorite sci-fi pop band, the future of the future, The Fantastic Plastics. And we're trying to figure out if Kornflake was ever married to Billy Joel. We may be right, and she may be crazy.

Direct download: Flopcast_365.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:51am EDT