The Flopcast (general)

As our Halloween festivities continue, we take a quick look at the horror movies parodied in Mad Magazine in the 1980s. Including: The Shining, Poltergeist, Psycho II, a couple of Alien movies, and Gremlins (with Alfred E. Neuman as Gizmo on the cover). Speaking of Mad and Alfred, we just visited the Norman Rockwell Museum for an amazing exhibit called "What, Me Worry? The Art & Humor of Mad Magazine." And it closes in two weeks, so GO RIGHT NOW. Also: It's World Singing Day. And we are not the world.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

Direct download: Flopcast_649.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

It's Halloween season, which means it's Monster Cereal season! And while we rarely eat the stuff anymore, we do welcome the return of Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and the new girl, zombie DJ Carmella Creeper. (Sorry, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy fans. Those weirdos aren't around this year.) The big news is that the monsters have pets now! Meet the Frightful Friends: Benny the Bat, Igor the Spider, Scratch the Snake, and Meow Berry. (What, no chicken?! Send your letters of complaint to General Mills...) Several Flopcast listeners have even provided photos of this year's cereal boxes, saving us a trip to the grocery store, where we'd just blow all our podcasting profits on Doritos. Also: Happy Birthday to Scott Bakula! He's probably out there Quantum-leaping and Enterprise-splaining right now.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

Direct download: Flopcast_648.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:32am EDT

With Dragon Con finally out of the way, we can have some real fun! Let's read the dictionary! Specifically we're diving back into The Super Dictionary, a bizarre 1978 book for kids that mixed learning and DC Comics superheroes, and left everyone thoroughly confused. After perusing a few more entries, we have some questions, such as: Is Batgirl a pirate? (Or a mechanic, or a bikini model?) Is Supergirl terrified of mice? And why are Batman and Robin climbing a giant baby? We're equally confused by the villains, as we see Joker planning a dinner party and Catwoman, yes, dusting the tiger. (Not a euphemism.) So join us for a super-weird vocabulary lesson. We promise you will learn nothing.

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

Direct download: Flopcast_647.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:28am EDT

Let's wrap up our look back at Dragon Con 2024, before we have to creep back to Atlanta for Dragon Con 2025! The final two days of our favorite nerdfest included: Sci-Fi Court! (The Mayor defended Beastmaster, and Kevin defended Wonder Woman. But not the Wonder Woman you're thinking of.) A couple of rounds of Roll-A-Panel, in which a giant d20 determined which movies were discussed! (Don't worry, we did not miss Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.) Celebrity Q&A panels with Giancarlo Esposito, Ming Na Wen, Manny Jacinto, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Mike Colter! Script readings of Three's Company and Out of This World, featuring kazoos, a surprise message from space, and a million Helens Roper! The new Dragon Tales book! Retro arcade games! Barbies! Teeth! And yes, screaming bikini chicken ladies. It was magnificent. See you next year, weirdos.

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

Direct download: Flopcast_646.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:23am EDT

The Mayor of Chickentown joins Kevin and Kornflake as our look back at Dragon Con 2024 continues! This time we're covering Friday and Saturday, when the convention was so crowded that we could not have squished one more nerd into Atlanta. Our coverage includes: The Geek Girls Run! The ESO Network's Freaks and Geeks 25th Anniversary panel! More panels on punk rock sci-fi, Office Space, Aquaman, cicadas, and apes! Monty Python's John Cleese! Flute-playing astronaut Cady Coleman! A super-weird (as usual) round of Sci-Fi Explosion! And perhaps a naughty Star Trek puppet show too! It was all quite exhausting, and yikes, we still had two days to go. Stock up on mead and cheese (that's our Dragon Con health plan) and enjoy...

Running Geek Girl on YouTube!

Felt Nerdy!

Sci-Fi Explosion!

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_645.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:36am EDT

Here we go with the first of three (yikes, hopefully no more than three) Dragon Con review episodes! This week Kevin and Kornflake go over everything that happened Wednesday and Thursday, as our giant Atlanta nerd festival was just getting started. Including: A meeting of the geeks at Logan Airport in Boston! The Dragon Con debut of our pal Blasted Bill! Our third annual meeting with the Muscovy ducks of Piedmont Park! The Dragon Con Newbie Walking Tour! A disgusting beverage! The Council of Kevins! The Sci-Fi Music Video Book Club! The 120 Minutes dance party! And lots more shenanigans and silliness with the greatest collection of nerds and weirdos ever assembled. And this is only the beginning...

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This week's promos: The 42cast and Monster Attack!

Direct download: Flopcast_644.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:16am EDT

It's Dragon Con weekend, but we didn't forget about a weird Flopcast summer tradition: our annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List! And we have a special guest to deliver the list: our old pal (and original Sponge Awareness Foundation member) Jim, finally making his Flopcast debut! Jim has a list of surprise robots from movies and TV; that is, robots that we didn't know were robots until the big reveal. Call them androids, call them simuloids, call them replicants, Cylons, fembots, whatever you like. But they're robots in disguise, and they're out there. By the way, the Chickaphant, an alien chicken/elephant hybrid, is also out there somewhere. Please don't leave the house.

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_643.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Dragon Con is just days away, which means tens of thousands of nerds shall soon descend upon the unsuspecting city of Atlanta. (Actually, Atlanta knows we're coming. They're jacking up the price of giant rum drinks at this very moment...) Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown will be busy with panels, presentations, and various bizarre Dragon Con events, so this week we're sharing our schedule with you. Including: Panels on Aquaman, Batman, What If...?, and Freaks and Geeks! The Sci-Fi Music Video Book Club! The return of Sci-Fi Court! A couple of Roll-A-Panels! A not-at-all-silly script reading of a Three's Company episode! The Geek Girls Run! Apes! (So many apes...) And lots more weird stuff, of course. Find us there! We'll have shiny badge ribbons for you. And we'll file our full Dragon Con report here in a couple of weeks, assuming we're not trampled by an inflatable T-rex mob.

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

Direct download: Flopcast_642.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:51am EDT

Dragon Con, our favorite gigantic nerdfest of the year, is just a couple of weeks away, and we're already exhausted. Today we're looking at Dragon Con's guest list of TV and movie stars, writers, artists, musicians, scientists, podcasters, puppeteers, and miscellaneous weirdos. Including: A trio of Lord of the Rings hobbits, a Monty Python guy, a Robot Chicken guy, a bunch of Fraggles, a bunch of Star Trek actors (including a certain bearded Commander whose birthday we're celebrating), a flute-playing astronaut, Canadian teen pop star Robin Sparkles, and more. We're also thrilled to announce the release of Dragon Tales, a collection of stories and essays all about Dragon Con. (There's even a contribution from Kevin, and believe it or not, it's completely ridiculous.) This is a super-fun book, and all the proceeds go to charity, so we hope you'll pop over to Amazon and order a copy right now. Next week: The dragon talk continues, and it just keeps getting weirder.

Dragon Tales - now available!

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This week's promo: Dragon Con Report!

Direct download: Flopcast_641.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:24am EDT

Kornflake returns to wrap up the summer song project we started last week! This time we're covering the 1990s, and selecting the songs we most associate with each summer. So we'll probably cover some Mariah, some Paula, and perhaps a Barenaked Lady or two. Along the way, our 90s memories include Kornflake on the radio requesting a Seal song, and Kevin in a church basement insisting that life is not a highway. Kids, it was a weird decade full of weird summers. We're entering the Smash Mouth era. Cover yourselves.

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This week's promo: Tales From Hollywoodland!

Direct download: Flopcast_640.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

As the Hit Parade podcast recently taught us, each year Billboard declares an official "Song of the Summer" based on chart performance. We're taking a more subjective approach, and choosing which songs we most associate with each summer of the 1980s. Of course you'll find some Go-Go's and some Kenny Loggins on our list (come on, it's us), but perhaps we'll surprise you with a choice or two. And which songs would you pick? What reminds you of the summer of 1984, as you biked through the heat to the arcade in search of Donkey Kong Junior? (Is it Huey Lewis? It's probably Huey Lewis.) Let us know! And prepare for next week, when we'll take on the summer songs of the 1990s. It'll be intense.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

Direct download: Flopcast_639.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:36am EDT

For the first time in four years, Kevin and Kornflake are together at Chickentown Studios! (Kevin brought the coffee, and Kornflake brought the doughnuts, so come on, it's a party.) Kornflake is passing through Chickentown on her summer vacation, so we have a quick vacation road trip quiz! Do we learn anything? Not really. Except that you probably don't want to stay in a yurt. Also: We wish a Happy Birthday to everyone named Greta, and we play a bird-themed round of What's in the Bag! Next week, we'll be recording from separate locations as usual. Our lawyers insisted.

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

Direct download: Flopcast_638.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:03pm EDT

Our five-part New Wave Game was just preparation for this week. Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown have a full report on the latest (and longest) retro 80s new wave concert to come to town. The eight (EIGHT!) acts were: The Plimsouls, Tommy Tutone, Bow Wow Wow, Wang Chung, Men Without Hats, Modern English, Thompson Twins, and Thomas Dolby! So we melted with you, we wanted candy, we were blinded with science, we got Jenny's phone number, and we may have even Wang Chunged. But let's keep that our little secret.

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

Direct download: Flopcast_637.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:41pm EDT

Based on the advice of our lawyers, your Flopcast hosts rarely meet up in person these days. But it did just happen, because we both showed up at an odd little event called the Hops and Humorous Arts (or HAHA) Festival. This was an evening of short comedy films, and one of the filmmakers was an old friend from the world of funny music: Tom Rockwell, aka Devo Spice! So we got to hang out with Tom, see a bunch of weird little movies, drink a bunch of weird little beverages, and try (but mostly fail) to play some classic arcade games. Also this week: We wish a Happy Birthday to rock legend Dion, and play a quick round of our silly Ranking the 80s game.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_636.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:04pm EDT

Time to wrap up our New Wave Game and see if anyone survives! We're down to the final three volumes of the CD series Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s, and either Kevin or Kornflake could still win. (But come on, our money is on Kornflake...) And we've reached the mid-80s, when there was no shortage of new wave hits in the Top 40. So we're talking about acts like Wang Chung, Thompson Twins, Katrina and the Waves, Animotion, Tears for Fears, Bananarama, and Men at Work. It seemed like nothing was off limits on the pop charts. A musical about chess? Sure. Vietnam-era news clips set to a dance beat? Absolutely. The Dream Academy had a hit that sounded like nothing else. Arcadia had a hit that sounded exactly like Duran Duran, and with good reason. There's even a trio of New England-area new wave bands represented here. (We all know 'Til Tuesday, but do you remember Miracle Legion? How about Rubber Rodeo?) So enjoy one last round of new wave madness, and then we can relax. Just like Frankie said.

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This week's promo: Monster Attack!

Direct download: Flopcast_635.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:45am EDT

We start with a quick report from a local nerd convention, where Kevin met up with some heroes of 1970s kids TV: Our old friends Wesley Eure and Kathy Coleman from Land of the Lost, our new friends Doug and Emmy Jo from The New Zoo Revue... and the legendary Sid Krofft. (We're still sort of freaking out about that last one...) Then Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown look at the prime time TV shows that debuted half a century ago, in the year 1974. It's a short list (there were just three networks, kids), but it includes some long-running classics like Happy Days, Good Times, Little House on the Prairie, and Rockford Files. It also includes some short-lived shows that few remember, even if their casts included future stars like Jodie Foster, Penny Marshall, and Mark Hamill. And if you're looking for a show about Swedish immigrants in 1850s Minnesota starring Kurt Russell, the android from Logan's Run, and Bobby Brady's brother... we've got you covered there too.

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

Direct download: Flopcast_634.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:23pm EDT

On the longest day of the year, we made the shortest show of the year. Including: Kornflake likes when Aubrey Plaza is weird, Kevin apologizes to a turkey, a rooster named Earl works at an auto shop, and we launch our new Flopcast "Too Many Comics" bonus episodes for ESO Network Patreon supporters. There, that was quick. Time for the longest nap of the year.

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_633.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:47am EDT

The struggle continues, as we're still trying to guess each other's favorite songs from the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series. By 1983, the radio was bursting with new wave weirdos who never would have dented the Top 40 in the pre-MTV era. But suddenly acts like Madness, Nena, and Taco (TACO!) were scoring huge oddball hits. Culture Club was peaking, while Tears For Fears was just getting started. Spandau Ballet delivered a new romantic classic. Big Country turned their guitars into bagpipes. And even a young Tracey Ullman tossed off a gorgeous throwback pop single. Meanwhile some truly goofy (but still super-fun) acts kept a safe distance from mainstream success. (Casey Kasem never had to introduce "Earthquake Song" by Little Girls.) Let's sort it all out and try to score a few more points in this penultimate edition of our silly New Wave Game. Also: A visit to the ukulele festival with the Unlikely Strummers, the Somerville Ukulele Club, and a thousand more ukulele-wielding humans; Lindsay Wagner's bionic birthday; Kevin's parentheses; Kornflake's "eep" words; and Joe's (possibly successful) attempt to swoop in and win the whole game.

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_632.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:39am EDT

Another quick fill-in show? You bet! We're flipping through three old comic books that the Mayor of Chickentown actually owned as a little kid, decades before her rise to poultry-themed political bigwig. Up first is The Wizard of Oz, a giant-sized movie adaptation that was actually the first collaboration between Marvel and DC! (Only a flying monkey could bring these rival publishers together.) We also have an issue of Spidey Super Stories, which was published in conjunction with Spider-Man's segments on The Electic Company. And we even have a Casper the Friendly Ghost comic with a creepy Eddie Munster-type demon child on the cover. Plus: Spider-Man goes to the mall! Richie Rich dies! Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader! Irene Cara and Short Circus! Wendy and Spooky! Sad Sack selling Hostess Cupcakes! And more comic book ads for Grit, onion gum, Witchiepoo masks, and The Bad News Bears! Is this whole episode a sneaky backdoor pilot for a Flopcast spinoff show? Perhaps...

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

Direct download: Flopcast_631.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:10am EDT

Kevin just watched a horrible movie and can't wait to tell the Mayor all about it! So kids, welcome to 1978's Record City. It's purportedly a comedy, but yikes, not a single joke lands. But at least the setting is fun, since the whole thing takes place at a late 70s California record store, and they have the Blondie and Jim Croce posters to prove it. The movie is also notable for its ensemble cast of familiar faces from Flopcast favorites like Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Brady Bunch, Batman, Lost Saucer, and even Pink Lady and Jeff. Get ready for some wacky (and problematic and cringeworthy) record store hijinks that completely fail to entertain. Meanwhile, just outside Record City, there's a big talent show hosted by a certain Disco Duck-singing DJ, and starring a certain Sledge-O-Matic-wielding comedian. Do we recommend that you watch Record City? Absolutely not. Does Record City somehow feature just one single arm from a gorilla suit? Oh yes, it sure does.

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This week's promo: Dragon Con Report!

Direct download: Flopcast_630.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:15pm EDT

Our first two installments of the New Wave Game ended in ties, because we were both quite clueless. This week we move even deeper into the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series, as we attempt to guess each other's favorite songs on each volume. Among the weirder, more obscure stuff (any other fans of "I Eat Cannibals"?), we find plenty of new wave classics from Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, The Tubes, The Fixx, Scandal, Dexy's Midnight Runners, and lots more. Can we possibly resist an oddity called "Chicken Outlaw"? Do we just wish we were in Tijuana eating barbecued iguana? Hop on the escalator of life with us to find out.

The Best Stuff in the World podcast - Infocom text adventure games!

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This week's promo: Tales From Hollywoodland!

Direct download: Flopcast_629.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:30am EDT

We're not quite sure why, but the subject of our latest Top 4 1/2 List is... Norway! So here's some of our favorite Norwegian stuff, as approved by the gods of Asgard. We have a silly Viking or two, an icy Justice League member, an 80s synthpop band (that was once trapped in a comic book), and lots more. In fact, Kornflake is revealed to be a superfan of Norwegian comedy, and would like you to know that Ylvis is everywhere.

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

Direct download: Flopcast_628.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:21am EDT

Super-quick show this week, as we say Happy Birthday to masked and bucket-headed guitarist Buckethead, unveil our new Flopcast promo (which Kornflake both conceived and despises), and turn to the Pudding Pages to learn about the weird 1990s soda called Surge. (Fun fact: They still love Surge in Norway, where it goes by a slightly different name. Make your summer travel plans accordingly.)

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

Direct download: Flopcast_627.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:53am EDT

We're back for another round of our New Wave Game! The rules are simple, because the game is stupid. We're listening to the next three volumes in the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series, and trying to guess each other's favorite songs. Volumes 4-6 include Flopcast favorites like the Go-Go's, Men at Work, Duran Duran, and Devo. There are also memorable one-or-two hit wonders like Soft Cell, A Flock of Seagulls, the Waitresses, and Bow Wow Wow. And then there are the acts who never really scored a hit, but still made an impression. (Yikes, Jim Carroll knew a lot of people who died...) In New Wave Game Part 1, we both failed miserably. Surely we'll do better this time, if we can only clear our brains of Toni Basil screeching about Mickey.

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

Direct download: Flopcast_626.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:24am EDT

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2024 inductees have been announced, but instead of discussing them like normal humans, we're throwing them into a FlopFight tournament. Our competitors include Mary J. Blige, Foreigner, Frampton, and Ozzy. Our competitions involve cappuccino, penguins, and Smurfs. Anything can happen, and it will probably be ridiculous. Also: Happy Birthday to a Jersey boy who was inducted into the Rock Hall decades ago. Plus: Kevin (and Kevin!) are talking Watchmen on the Best Stuff in the World podcast. Hurm.

Watchmen - The Best Stuff In The World podcast!

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

Direct download: Flopcast_625.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:04am EDT

Inspired by a recent viewing of Saturday Night Fever, Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown flip through some comic books from the late 70s, when DC and Marvel tried to cash in on the disco craze. While Dazzler would become Marvel's disco queen of the 80s, first Spider-Man crawled around the dance floor battling the Hypno-Hustler! Then Batman and Flash enjoyed some Bee Gees tunes at the Disco of Death! Even Superman caught disco fever, and Clark Kent's bizarre dance moves must not be missed. Did Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne wear identical white John Travolta suits? Let's find out. We also enjoy a few classic comic book ads for Sea Monkeys, Fruit Stripe gum, Spalding basketballs, Kryptonite rocks, the Micronauts Battle Cruiser, and (of course) Twinkies. And now we just want to see a disco-dancing Twinkie the Kid. We have a problem.

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

Direct download: Flopcast_624.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:32am EDT

Kornflake is back, just in time for a new game! A new WAVE game, specifically! Thirty years ago, Rhino Records released a fifteen volume series of CDs called Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s. We're looking at the first three of these fantastic compilation albums, and attempting to guess each other's favorite songs. There are some genuine classics (from The Buggles, The Knack, Blondie, Devo, and Squeeze), some bizarro oddities (like "Warm Leatherette" and "Too Young to Date"), a Tim Curry dance number, a surprise Monkees cover, and lots more super-fun but long-forgotten obscurities. (Any other fans of Martha & The Muffins out there?) Who shall emerge victorious from this deep dive into the craziest music of the early 80s? Squish into your old Ultravox t-shirt and join us.

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This week's promo: Monster Attack!

Direct download: Flopcast_623.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:41am EDT

Let's wrap up our review of The Krofft Supershow, a super-silly Saturday morning TV show from mad geniuses Sid and Marty Krofft. The second season brought us two weird new segments: Magic Mongo (in which a goofy genie crashes a bikini beach party) and Bigfoot and Wildboy (in which a Sasquatch and a kid with no pants battle aliens and Peter Brady). The show was still hosted by wacky rock band Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, and we also review their appearances on American Bandstand, Donny and Marie, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, and a Saturday Morning preview special with the Bay City Rollers. Of course our favorite Kaptain Kool and the Kongs member is Superchick, played by Debra Clinger, and we conclude our look at Debra's career beyond the Krofft world. Debra appeared on classic 70s/80s TV series like Barnaby Jones, The Hardy Boys, The Love Boat, and Hart to Hart. She starred in her own short-lived series The American Girls, alongside a future Three's Company star. She starred in the silly cult classic movie Midnight Madness, alongside a very young Michael J. Fox. And she even worked on a couple of our beloved Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. Also: 70s Hollywood power couple Lee and Farrah! Yogi Bear in space! Teen runaways and women in prison! The secret of the Dorse! A love connection on the set of Airwolf! Superchick meets the Snow Miser! Superchick meets Colonel Sanders! Krofft Supershow comic books! And the upcoming Super Megafest convention in Massachusetts, with some very special Krofft guests. So join us for more fun Krofft talk here on the Flopcast, where anything goes down, where most of what appears isn't true.

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_622.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:54am EDT

With Kornflake away on special assignment, Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are free to obsess over The Krofft Supershow, a wild 1970s Saturday morning TV anthology series from Sid and Marty Krofft. Specifically we're looking at the career of musician and actress Debra Clinger, who played Superchick in The Krofft Supershow's house band, Kaptain Kool and the Kongs. Pre-Superchick, Debra and her sisters formed the Clingers, one of the very first all-girl rock bands! She was also in the Rock Flowers, a music group created to tie in with a line of Mattel fashion dolls! So it was quite a path to becoming a Kong, and along the way our conversation covers the Osmonds, the Smothers Brothers, Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, Hanna Barbera's Catanooga Cats, and much more. We also run through the Krofft Supershow first season segments: Wonderbug, Dr. Shrinker, Lost Saucer, and (our favorite) Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. And we look at the other members of Kaptain Kool and the Kongs too. (One member became a sitcom star, one was in Three Dog Night, and one performed at Woodstock!) And we're only halfway through this Superchick deep dive; part two is coming soon. So take a trip with us today, and we will lead you through a land of dreams. Weird Krofft dreams.

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_621.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:18pm EDT

We're diving back into the pages of Dynamite magazine, so we can pretend it's still 1979. (Give it a try. Set the mood with a Gloria Gaynor record.) This randomly selected issue has Erik Estrada on the cover, and inside we learn that the CHiPs star had a problem with chips. Also inside: How to ruin your lunch with weird Dynamite recipes, a bizarre sneak peek at Mrs. Doubtfire, Tony Danza back in the boxing ring, Kiss notebooks vs. Bambi notebooks, Dynamite vs. one of Charlie's Angels, the Dynamite Duo vs. themselves, a decapitated teddy bear, and much more. All we're missing is our free Bee Gees poster, which some kid must have ripped out of the magazine 45 years ago. It's a tragedy.

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

Direct download: Flopcast_620.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Short show this week! We're sleepy. But during a quick visit to Northeast Comic Con, we find old friends, fancy nerd dice, and members of The Go-Go's, The Cars, and the cast of Growing Pains. We also recommend Enterprisesplaining, a silly new Star Trek podcast that doesn't care if you've ever seen Star Trek. Also: Happy Birthday to Matthew Modine. (Were you more disturbed by Matthew in Full Metal Jacket, Stranger Things, or Private School? Let us know.)

The Cursed Dice Company!

Enterprisesplaining!

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This week's promo: Dragon Con Report!

Direct download: Flopcast_619.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:33am EDT

It's the second half of our look at every television series that debuted in the year 1999. And once again, we remember just a few of them, and only saw a couple. (Kornflake was a fan of Judging Amy, while for Kevin, this was the year of Freaks and Geeks.) But the list also includes dozens of obscure short-lived sitcoms, cartoons, talk shows, game shows, and at least one insane cannibalistic Canadian woman in the Amazon jungle. (Maybe it was just her way of preparing for Y2K.) Do you remember any of these shows? Are you still secretly hoping for a reboot of Get Real, Cold Feet, or Oh, Grow Up? Let us know. We'll make some calls.

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This week's promo: Tales From Hollywoodland!

Direct download: Flopcast_618.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:58am EDT

We're diving into television of the year 1999... which is quite recent by Flopcast standards, but yikes, it was a quarter century ago. We have a giant list of every TV show that debuted that year, and this week we only get halfway through the list. Several long-running cartoons started in 1999, including Family Guy, Futurama, and SpongeBob. But there were also cartoons we don't remember at all, starring ants, hippos, mutant babies, and more. We also don't remember a ton of 1999 sitcoms, dramas, game shows, and something with a lemur puppet. Look, we seem to be pretty clueless about almost everything that happened that year. (Aren't you glad we're here to be your guides?) Let's get through this together. Stay tuned for Part 2, when we'll get into all the 1999 fall season premieres. Meanwhile we can't help thinking that if we'd paid more attention back then, The Chimp Channel would still be on the air today.

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This week's promo: The Soul Forge Podcast!

Direct download: Flopcast_617.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01pm EDT

Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are celebrating the career of comic book artist Ramona Fradon, who died this week at the age of 97. Ramona was one of the only women drawing comics way back in the early 60s, when she was the premier Aquaman artist for DC Comics, and co-created Aquaman's teen sidekick, Aqualad. Later in the 60s, she also co-created one of DC's oddest heroes, Metamorpho the Element Man. Ramona's 70s comics work included Freedom Fighters (with Doll Man, who wishes you'd stop giggling about his name), Plastic Man (Ramona's art was even seen on the Plastic Man cartoon series), and Super Friends (with your favorite space monkey, Gleek). She then jumped from comic books to comic strips with an impressive fifteen year run on Brenda Starr. And even in recent years, Ramona kept busy with convention appearances and commissions. So we spend the show flipping through a pile of old comics and admiring Ramona's art, but we're occasionally distracted by the ads for Hostess Fruit Pies, Mego action figures, Big Jim's P.A.C.K., ugly Barbie doll knock-offs, and Crazy Crabs. (Yes, back in the day, you could buy actual live crabs through mail order comic book ads. But what we really wanted was Aquaman's octopus pal, Topo...)

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

Direct download: Flopcast_616.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:53pm EDT

It's time for our annual review of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... which means we could start screaming "What about the Monkees?!" at any time. But there are some worthy and long overdue performers up for induction, such as Cher, Mariah, and (finally!) Kool & the Gang. Join us as we go through the whole list for you. (Spoiler: Still no Tiffany. COME ON.) And yeah, if you think Kornflake didn't somehow work a flying cow into the conversation... you don't really know us.

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This week's promo: The 42cast!

Direct download: Flopcast_615.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:29am EDT

After a three year break, we're getting back to The Backs of Life! (As requested by absolutely no one! You're welcome!) Back in 2021, we started reviewing all the "backdoor pilot" episodes of classic 80s sitcom The Facts of Life. Now as we finally revive this very important project, we've brought in a special guest reviewer: friend of the Flopcast, Sci-Fi Explosion mastermind, and certified Factologist Chris Cummins! Kevin, Kornflake, and Chris are looking at the 1988 backdoor pilot episode "Big Apple Blues," in which Natalie moves to New York City to share an apartment with a pack of weirdos, including a pre-21 Jump Street Richard Grieco and a pre-SNL David Spade! Can Natalie make her dreams come true in the big city? Is a margarine spokesperson named King Toast somehow involved? And will it all lead to a successful long-running spinoff series? (Answers: Yes, yes, and absolutely not.) Meanwhile back in Peekskill with our regular cast, Blair has garage sale fever, Pippa might be a robot, and we get a brief but delightful glimpse of Tootie's old roller skates. It's magnificent. Kids, we still have one more Backs of Life episode to go, and we'll try to get to it before 2027.

Watch Sci-Fi Explosion on Twitch!

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

Direct download: Flopcast_614.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:02am EDT

It's another goofy random little show this week, including: Kornflake finds an Oompa Loompa at the Chocolate Expo; Kevin finds a rock star at the disco; the secret language of chickens is revealed; we're less than excited about Popcorn Day; and it's almost time to revive our Facts of Life review project, the Backs of Life. Just as Tootie prophesized.

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This week's promos:
Modern Musicology!
The MarsCon 2024 Comedy Music Track!

Direct download: Flopcast_613.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:53am EDT

It's a surprisingly disco-themed episode, because Kevin, Kornflake, the Mayor of Chickentown, and Ed from Sponge Awareness Foundation all met in the middle of New Hampshire for a spectacular ABBA tribute show. We were there because our old pal (and occasional SAF guitarist) Mike was onstage in the band, delivering killer guitar solos like you never heard back in the disco era. We followed the show with a visit to the Red Arrow Diner, where we hadn't been since Kornflake's notorious tooth incident a decade ago. (Longtime Flopcast listeners remember what happened... oh yes, Mr. T was involved...) Also: A meeting with supercool vocalist Militia Vox, weird answering machine messages with Doornail, Plastic Man vs. the Disco Mummy, and Chickens in the News with the great Luke Ski! So slip into something sparkly and enjoy. You can dance, you can jive, having the podcast of your life.

Dancing Queens is at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH through February 11!

Luke Ski's new song "Chicken!" is available at The FuMP!

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_612.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:22am EDT

Ready for more vocabulary lessons with the Justice League of America? We're diving back into The Super Dictionary, a 1978 book that attempted to mix learning with superheroes, and succeeded in being completely bizarre. This time we'll look at entries involving: walrus baseball with Aquaman, cleaning an invisible jet with Wonder Woman, nap time with the Man of Steel, people crashing when they try to fly like Hawkgirl, the Batmobile crashing because Robin can't drive, Supergirl weirdly watching kids sleep, Luthor weirdly watching people comb their hair, a stranger in the basement, naked aliens... and multiple entries about Green Lantern's curious obsession with ducks. Study hard, kids, and maybe we'll make you an honorary Wonder Twin. Also: Happy Birthday to Lost in Space's Will Robinson, Bill Mumy! Light a candle on a fish head for Bill.

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

Direct download: Flopcast_611.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:12am EDT

National Whatever Day involves dancing like a cuckoo; our 2024 health and fitness plan is mostly lo mein-based; the Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning shows of the 1970s are now streaming (great news for Bay City Rollers fans like us); we somehow connect the Krofft shows to The Love Boat, the Snow Miser, and Chewbacca's creepy dad Itchy; and we finally share our New Year's Resolutions. Spoiler: They're a little stupid.

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This week's promo: Monster Attack!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_610.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:57am EDT

Kornflake returns to join Kevin and The Mayor of Chickentown as we finish our look back at those we lost in 2023. Our coverage of the second half of the year includes: sitcom favorites (Chrissy from Three's Company, Bull from Night Court, Kraus from Benson, Chandler from Friends), cartoon favorites (the voices behind Harley Quinn, Solomon Grundy, and some School House Rock classics), musicians (members of The Eagles, Kool and the Gang, The Pogues, and The Association, as well as Tony Bennett and of course, Sinéad), a Smothers brother (who was also The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas), television's original Lois Lane, Lost in Space's original Major Don West, and many more. Then there are a couple of all-time Flopcast favorites who made unforgettable impacts on Saturday morning TV and beyond: Marty Krofft and Paul Reubens. And could the memorial show somehow include some relevant Chickens in the News? Well, sure. It's been a weird year. And it's a long show, because come on.

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_609.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:37pm EDT

Time to look back on those we lost (from pop culture and beyond) in 2023. This week we're covering the first half of the year, and our list includes people from movies (Raquel Welch, Treat Williams, Alan Arkin), television (Adam Rich, Cindy Williams, Richard Belzer), music (Burt Bacharach, Harry Belafonte, Tina Turner), comics (Al Jaffee, Lee Moder, John Romita Sr.), wrestling (Leaping Lanny Poffo, Superstar Billy Graham, The Iron Sheik), and many more. Kornflake has the week off, but the Mayor of Chickentown is here providing expert commentary. And next week, we'll all be here to wrap up the whole stupid year. Bring very strong beverages.

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_608.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:12am EDT

It's a typical holiday episode, in that we're discussing Julia Child, Pop Rocks, and Newsies. But there are some vaguely holiday-themed subjects too, including Kornflake's newfound candy cane addiction, Kevin's recent guest appearance on Gleaming the Tube (discussing old Christmas specials!), and a round or two of the Figgy Pudding Pages. We're keeping it super-short this week and passing the savings on to you. Go do something festive.

Gleaming the Tube - Our Favorite Holiday Specials!

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_607.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:27am EDT

Special guest Blasted Bill joins us for a Very Flopcast Christmas! And we're putting Bill to work on an extra festive Top 4 1/2 List of... Santas! Bill and Kornflake share their favorite Santas from movies, television, ski slopes, bar crawls, and maybe even Canada. (Let's hope at least one of them picked a Santa from a Rankin/Bass cartoon, or Kevin will freak out like the Burgermeister.) Also: Bill is Composite Santa! Kornflake is Lucy Van Pelt! And Kevin is just dizzy and confused as usual! So grab a penguin, name it Topper for no good reason, put one podcast in front of the other, and enjoy. Heavily spiked egg nog, while not mandatory, is highly recommended.

Blasted Bill on TikTok!

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This week's promo: Tales From Hollywoodland!

Direct download: Flopcast_606.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

Every year dozens of ridiculous identical made-for-TV holiday movies are forced upon the people. And every year we try to fix these movies by making them weirder. We've selected a few of this year's new releases (from the usual suspects like Hallmark and Lifetime), most of which star Lacey Chabert as a big city lawyer who finds true love after returning to her quaint home town to save her great-aunt's figgy pudding farm. And we're punching up their plots by randomly inserting new elements like Martians, misfit toys, and basketball-playing robots. Don't settle for the same old TV holiday fare. The Flopcast is here to save Christmas. You're welcome.

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This week's promo: The Soul Forge Podcast!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_605.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:54am EDT

Break time is over, and the FlopFight resumes! Ed (from the Sponge Awareness Foundation) is back to help us wrap up our tournament of game show hosts (and associated game show weirdos). The players are drawn at random, and the competitions are drawn at random, so anything could happen. Will Bob Barker face Richard Dawson in a Spam-juggling competition? Drew Carey vs. Paul Lynde at Electronic Battleship? Perhaps! Only one game show legend can Showcase Showdown their way to victory, while everyone else is stuck with a copy of the FlopFight home game. And although he already competed in Part 1, we just can't stop talking about Wink Martindale. Some of us are still running from that Tic Tac Dough dragon...

Find Ed at the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum!

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This week's promo: Earth Station One!

Direct download: Flopcast_604.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:20am EDT

Our game show-themed FlopFight concludes next week, but first, let's take a quick intermission! Go hit the lobby and grab some unreasonably priced Junior Mints! And for your entertainment while we're waiting for the carnage to resume, this week we have: Cider Monday (a holiday for bizarre apple people); Kornflake's latest (and most ridiculous) lobster trap tree visit; Letters to Cleo and Gigolo Aunts live in Boston (because apparently it's 1993); the East Cambridge Chicken Run (one mile, hundreds of chicken suits); and the WKRP in Cincinnati turkey drop, as weirdly presented by the American Sci-Fi Classics Track.

Oh, Hello Boston radio!

The American Sci-Fi Classics Turkey Drop!

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

Direct download: Flopcast_603.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:40am EDT

Kornflake is back! And Ed, the other half of the Sponge Awareness Foundation, is back too! Because Ed thought we should have a game show-themed FlopFight, and it's not like we had anything better to do! So here we go with another ridiculous tournament, and this time the players are the hosts of classic game shows like Jeopardy and Tic Tac Dough, as well as related game show characters. (Could a Press Your Luck Whammy get to play? Could a Muppet be involved? Can anyone stop Regis?) And because it's a FlopFight, each round involves weird randomly selected competitions like running a marathon or boxing a kangaroo, so anything could happen. (Sure, Vanna White can turn letters, but would she make a good chicken farmer?) This week's winner advances to the final round, unless they get gonged by the Unknown Comic or something. So gather at your backyard Thanksgiving table for pretzels and popcorn and jelly beans and toast, and enjoy our latest FlopFight! It's like a Monty Hall Problem for your soul.

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This week's promo: The 42cast!

Direct download: Flopcast_602.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:07am EDT

It's the quick fill-in episode to end all quick fill-in episodes! With Kornflake still unavailable (busy at a lobster-and-British-comedy convention, we assume), there's nobody left in the studio except Kevin and a few stray rubber chickens. So we just have a bunch of podcast recommendations for you, because somebody out there must have more going on than us. There are the other fine shows of the ESO Network, of course, including two new ones: 3 Fries Short (all about Stargate) and Tales From Hollywoodland (with special guest STEVE GUTTENBERG)! Beyond ESO, we also recommend: A Podcask of Amontillado, Bizarre Albums, Built to Go, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Mallwalkin', The Dana Gould Hour, TV Guidance Counselor, Decoder Ring, Dreamland, The Funny Music Podcast, Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, Gleaming the Tube, Hit Parade, The Hustle, Luke and Carrie's Bad Rapport, The Real Brady Bros, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Strange Animals Podcast, and Who Cares About the Rock Hall. We could go on, but that should get you through the week. And if you'd rather rip out those earbuds and read something instead, we're also enjoying the new book Galloping Around the Cosmos. It's a collection of essays about growing up with Star Trek, and several of the authors are friends of the Flopcast. It makes us want to break out our old Mego Enterprise playset. Next week: We'll either get back to our usual silly business, or we'll turn the whole show over to the chickens.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_601.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:07am EDT

For our big milestone 600th episode, we're doing... well, not much of anything. It's just Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown goofing around while we await the triumphant return of Kornflake. Topics include: A correction from last week's show about mall sticker girls! (Oh yes, we heard from the mall sticker girls... they were most displeased...) Weird stuff you could order from the ads in Action Comics issue 600! (Would anyone like a Flexagon? Or perhaps a Roomerang?) How to turn invisible for five dollars! The 600th most popular song of the 1980s! (Is it by Hall and Oates? OF COURSE IT IS.) The 600th biggest movie of all time, when adjusted for inflation! (Hint: It's from the 80s, and it did not involve Eddie Murphy or Billy Ocean, but we drag them into the discussion anyway.) So grab 600 cups of coffee and enjoy. We promise this is the 600th most important podcast you'll hear this week.

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

Direct download: Flopcast_600.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:50am EDT

Let's go to the mall! But one specific mall that isn't there anymore! (Well, it's sort of still there, but not really.) We're joined by Gleaming the Tube's Kevin Cafferty to look back on the Lincoln Mall in Lincoln, Rhode Island (frighteningly close to Woonsocket). It wasn't the biggest mall, it wasn't the best mall, but it was our mall. And our Lincoln Mall memories include: Waldenbooks, our primary source of X-Men comics, Bloom County collections, and Tolkien; sketchy sausage samples at Hickory Farms; failed attempts to meet girls at the movies; the freaky pet store; the inexplicable organ store; the restaurant no one went to (Roast House); the restaurant everyone went to, because there were two of them in the same mall (Papa Gino's); the neverending weirdness of Spencer Gifts; and the glory of the Dream Machine video arcade. Also: Andre the Giant eating spaghetti! The sticker girl phenomenon! Our first comic book shop experiences! Our first dishwashing experiences! Record store employees with attitudes! Randy the Talking Reindeer! The Challenge of the Checkers Champion! A mall visit from Spider-Man! A ring of car stereo thieves! Rhode Island's own John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band! And yikes, so much more... Even if you never visited the Lincoln Mall, we know there's a mall or two in your past, so you can relate. In a way, we're all still lost among the overflowing bins of cheap junk at Kay Bee Toys.

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_599.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

It's Halloween season, so we have another terrifying Flopcast for you, starting with some follow-up from last week's Monster Cereals Taste Test. We received a LOT of feedback (from BOTH of our listeners) on Carmella Creeper, since we were wondering if Carmella is indeed the first female cereal mascot. (This somehow leads to our learning way too much about Wheaties. Sorry.) We also just discovered a new monster cereal spin-off product: Monster Mash Spooky Berry Fruit Snacks! All your favorite cereal monsters (even Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy) are represented in chewy candy form, but we might be too frightened to taste-test them during the podcast. Also: Kevin just got back from Vermont, so we break out our handy Vermont Monster Guide and learn all about the Pigman. Plus: It's TV Talk Show Host Day. The Pigman doesn't have his own show yet, but we can dream.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

Direct download: Flopcast_598.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:55am EDT

Longtime listeners may vaguely recall our legendary Monster Cereals Taste Test, which happened ten years ago this month! And now it's time to do it again, because there's a new monster cereal in town. Frankenberry, Count Chocula, and Boo Berry have been joined by Carmella Creeper! Carmella is a zombie, a DJ, and a girl! (Finally!) And apparently she is Frankenberry's long lost cousin! (Weird!) So we're taste-testing the new caramel apple-flavored Carmella Creeper cereal, as well as the freaky Monster Mash combo cereal, and a bonus wild card non-monster Halloween cereal too. We're chomping on everything, so you don't have to. But we still miss Frute Brute.

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This week's promo: Monster Attack!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_597.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Hang onto your milk money, because we're celebrating National School Lunch Week with a Kornflake Cafeteria Quiz. (Would she eat a Tater Tot? We're still not sure...) Then it's time to dive into another issue of Dynamite, the magazine for weird kids of the 70s and 80s. And we're looking at a Dynamite from 1978 that was provided by our pal Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion! Alfred E. Neuman is on the cover, because the lead story is about the 25th anniversary of MAD magazine. (And yes, someone baked a nightmare-inducing Alfred E. Neuman birthday cake.) Also in this issue: The Dynamite Duo (you know, legendary superheroes Dawnstar and Nightglider), bizarre ways to ruin your bicycle, International Pickle Week, the zombie kites of Nantucket, Count Morbida's puzzle pages, Magic Wanda's awful magic tricks, advice for witches, Dynamite Bummers, and a horse. Enjoy.

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_596.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:43am EDT

With our Dragon Con coverage finally out of the way (more or less), it's time to focus on what really matters: National Microwave Oven Day. Get ready to party, kids. We also have concert reviews on a couple of music legends: Bruce Springsteen (who never made a music video with dancing turkeys) and Peter Gabriel (who totally did). Plus: Yetis, ALF lunch boxes, and Chickens in the News! Did ancient chicken ancestors lay eggs or not? Let's find out. And then let's see if Peter can work this into his next video.

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This week's promo: Con Guy!

Direct download: Flopcast_595.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:09am EDT

Okay, let's wrap up our coverage of Dragon Con 2023! (Because come on, if this recap goes on much longer, we'll have to include Dragon Con 2024...) Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown (reporting from Maine in the middle of a hurricane) are here to run through every crazy thing that happened over the last two days of the convention. Including: Bionic fun with Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors, the Battle of the Mad Scientists, the Battle of the Fictional Bands, Christmas Con (with Robot Santa and horrifying holiday Spam), an ALF script reading (with Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion as ALF!), a Wonder Woman script reading (with Kevin as Steve Trevor, the Mayor as Etta Candy, and Joe in a gorilla suit!), panels on Stargirl and Titans with the American Sci-Fi and Fantasy Media Track, more hot Manimal talk with the American Sci-Fi Classics Track, and the upcoming Dragon Con-themed benefit book Dragon Tales! (Kevin wrote a chapter for this book. And it's quite silly, believe it or not.) Plus: Our favorite costumes, including a bizarre giant rubber chicken, a Weird Al group with tiny accordions, an eerily accurate Wilford Brimley, our friend Martha as Booster Gold, a million Mrs. Ropers, and a billion Barbies. We are officially exhausted. See you next year, nerds.

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_594.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:08pm EDT

Our Dragon Con recap continues, and this time we're just covering Saturday. While everyone else in Atlanta was out on the street for the big Dragon Con parade, Kevin was hiding in the American Sci-Fi Classics Track room for the ESO Network's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Super Friends. (Were any Wonder Twin powers activated? Perhaps...) The Mayor of Chickentown (our resident Barbie expert) was busy too with an American Sci-Fi/Fantasy Media Track panel about the Barbie movie! (There were approximately 63,000 Barbies at Dragon Con this year, and they were approximately everywhere.) Also: Kevins vs. Michaels, hobbits in the Con Suite, charity screenings of Krull (with the lights on) and Pee Wee's Big Adventure (with the lights off), and Kevin and the Mayor onstage together at Dragon Con for the very first time! (Also, speaking of Mr. Herman, we even ran into our favorite Pee Wee cosplayer, the amazing Remy Dee.) And yikes, there are still two more days of Dragon Con left to cover! This has to end at some point. Next week, hopefully.

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_593.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We have apparently survived Dragon Con 2023, and it's gonna take THREE episodes to review everything that happened at our favorite annual gathering of 70,000 nerds and/or geeks. This week we're just covering Wednesday through Friday, including: The amazing costumes of Brandon the Shapeshifter, the muscovy ducks of Piedmont Park, the Dragon Con Newbie Walking Tours, Kate from Strange Animals Podcast, Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion, Kevin from Gleaming the Tube, a tribute to MTV 120 Minutes, the Geek Girls Run, the legendary Marty Krofft (and HR Pufnstuf!), a Twilight Zone "Eye of the Beholder" deep dive with the American Sci Fi Classics Track, weird music video fun with the Jonzun Crew, and much more. We'll try to make you feel as dizzy and confused as if you were really there. Plus: Wherever we go, whatever we do, we will be right here waiting for Kornflake's National Whatever Day. Next week: Dragon Con review continues. And it's a safe bet that things will just keep getting weirder.

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This week's promo: The Soul Forge Podcast!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_592.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:13pm EDT

It's Dragon Con week! Alas, Kornflake cannot join us at Dragon Con, but let's just pretend that she can! Kevin has prepared a hypothetical weekend of silly events for Kornflake, based on the actual Dragon Con schedule. Including: robot battles, coloring books and coffee, burlesque, the old Krofft theme park, a tea party for puppets, and more. Plus: It's National Star Trek Day! (Hey, maybe we can just beam Kornflake to Atlanta.) Next week: Our actual review of Dragon Con. Assuming there are any survivors.

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This week's promo: Earth Station One!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_591.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

It's time for Dragon Con, so round up all your local weirdos and stick them on a bus to Atlanta! Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown will be there, and we're sharing our whole schedule with you. Come see the Mayor talk about Rocky Horror, Schmigadoon, and Barbie! (Did you know our Mayor is a Barbie expert? There's a lot going on here. It's not just chickens.) Meanwhile Kevin's nonstop schedule of silliness (with the American Sci-Fi Classics track and the American Sci-Fi and Fantasy Media track) includes panels and presentations on The Super Friends, The Twilight Zone, Krull, Titans, Stargirl, Wonder Woman, fictional bands, weird music videos, and much more. (Join us Friday morning for the Geek Girls Run! Don't you want to stomp around in the Atlanta heat? What's wrong with you?) We also take a quick look at the Dragon Con guest list, and we're most excited that the legendary Marty Krofft will be there! You know we'll be looking for Marty. We have 8,000 questions about Lidsville alone.

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This week's promo: DragonCon Report!

Direct download: Flopcast_590.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:56am EDT

As we frantically prepare for Dragon Con 2023, we're wrapping up our 10-episode look back at the 1980s with a visit to Dragon Con 1989! We weren't actually there (probably too busy watching Batman for the nineteenth time), but we did scrape up some information about the third ever installment of Atlanta's legendary nerdfest. It was held on a different weekend back then (in October instead of Labor Day), at a different location (the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, dangerously close to the former location of The World of Sid and Marty Krofft), and with far fewer humans in attendance. (There were 2400 people at Dragon Con 1989. This year there will be 2400 people at Dragon Con just waiting for an elevator.) But there were still some impressive guests from literature, horror, and gaming. We even found a list of movies and videos that were shown in 1989. (Star Trek: The Next Generation bloopers! Kornflake could have taken a very weird Brent Break.) So it might be too late to attend the 1989 version, but Dragon Con is coming around again very soon. See you there. Also: Kornflake's final pair of 1980s TV commercials! If you think computers don't care about chewing gum, get ready for a shock.

Links:

Our final 80s commercials: Teach your computer how to chew gum!

Then teach Leno how to chomp on Doritos!

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_589.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:37pm EDT

The vacationing Kornflake is flopped on a hammock somewhere, but the Mayor of Chickentown is here to celebrate the year 1988. After a quick look at some of the year's least popular movies (Kevin and the Mayor each saw just one of them), we turn to music. Specifically we're looking at the 1988 concert schedule at Great Woods, a beloved outdoor venue that dominated southern New England's summer concert landscape back in the day. The 1988 lineup at Great Woods featured classic rock (here comes Jethro Tull with that crazy flute), hair metal (Def Leppard, Europe, and a blindingly white combo show with Whitesnake and Great White), new wave (we should not have missed Depeche Mode with OMD), and Top 40 (George Michael, Huey Lewis, and more). Guns 'n' Roses opened for Aerosmith. Roy Orbison opened for the Beach Boys. Santana and Herbie Hancock were part of something called "Jazz Explosion," which sounds absolutely terrifying. And Kevin went to Great Woods for the very first time that summer, to see an Australian band that found massive success in the 80s. (And we don't mean Air Supply, or Men at Work, or Midnight Oil. Keep guessing.) Also: Last week we forgot to mention a certain giant robot from 1987. We apologize to giant robots everywhere.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_588.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Go away, soft weak humans! It's time for our annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List! And it's also time for our 1987-themed show! So once again we've turned to our pal Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion, because we knew Chris could come up with a magnificent list of 1987 robots. And yikes, he sure did. We have some all-time favorites (a certain Star Trek android debuted that year), some lesser known oddities (yes yes yes, robot french fries), and a poignant tribute to a fallen hero whose faithful robot always knew the secret word. Plus: Greg Hawkes and Eddie Japan are keeping the music of The Cars alive, Kornflake is hunting for bargains, Kevin and Chris are preparing silly things for DragonCon, and Tom Bosley is battling demon plastic wrap.

You need Sci Fi Explosion and Chris has it!

You need plastic wrap and Bosley has it!

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_587.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:58am EDT

Welcome back to 1986! (We need you for Hands Across America. Please go stand in the middle of Iowa for nine hours.) Kornflake has a goofy 1986 commercial in which the voice of God screams at you about drain cleaners. Then Kevin has a concert report on one of our favorite singers, who made her solo debut in 1986: Belinda Carlisle! You know we'll see Belinda whenever we can, because go go go go go. Also: Happy Birthday to the original Eddie Munster, Butch Patrick! He went from being a wolf boy to battling Charles Nelson Reilly in Lidsville, the magical world of living hats. Come on, Butch had range.

Only Crystal Drano can save us!

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

Direct download: Flopcast_586.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:47am EDT

As we cross the halfway point in our ten-part exploration of the 1980s, we're randomly recasting the movies of 1985, and hopefully making them weirder. We might extract Chevy Chase from Fletch, for example, and drop him into the Kelly LeBrock role in Weird Science. That would free up Kelly to star in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Stallone can replace Cher as the mom in Mask, and so on. Chances of this being a huge disaster: excellent. If you've ever wondered why we don't run Hollywood, this episode may provide some answers. Also: We're watching unsettling 1985 Pizza Hut commercials, and Kornflake is a secret Rush fan.

Rita and Martin getting weird about pizza...

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

Direct download: Flopcast_585.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:04am EDT

Our ten-episode trip through the 1980s continues, and we're looking at some very short-lived sitcoms from 1984. Including: The Duck Factory (starring Jim Carrey and Dippy Duck), Dreams (with John Stamos, Jami Gertz, and breakdancing), E/R (not the medical drama with George Clooney, but the medical sitcom with George Clooney), It's Your Move (with Jason Bateman and the Dregs of Humanity), and a bunch more. The world has moved on from these goofy little shows, but we're staying right here. Plus: Hefty trash bags vs. wimpy trash bags, and Happy Birthday to WandaVision actress Kathryn Hahn. It's been Kathryn's birthday all along.

Hefty or Wimpy? You decide.

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This week's promo: Monster Attack!

Direct download: Flopcast_584.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:12pm EDT

This week we're back in 1983! Kornflake shares a goofy 1983 commercial for Dial soap, while Kevin takes an absurdly quick look at the pop music of 1983. It was the year new wave conquered the Top 40, and we approved. (For more complete coverage of 1983 music, we refer you to recent episodes of White Rocket Entertainment and Modern Musicology. While the Flopcast covers Kajagoogoo, they take care of everything else.) We also stopped by Northeast Comic Con (aka Music Con) and saw members of the Monkees (Micky), the Runaways (Cherie), the Ramones (Richie), and the Stompers (Sal)! A Monkees cover band called Zilch was there too, as well as old friend of The Flopcast (and, as Flash Gordon, savior of the universe) Sam J. Jones! Plus: A concert report on Elvis Costello and the Imposters (along with Charlie Sexton) and Nick Lowe (along with his Mexican wrestling-masked backup band Los Straitjackets). And best of all, Happy Birthday to America's 1980s sweetheart, Phoebe Cates! Celebrate by watching Private School. It's not Phoebe's best movie, but it is Phoebe's 1983 movie.

A bunch of 1983 commercials! (Dial soap ad is at 6:50)

White Rocket Entertainment: Music of 1983!

Modern Musicology: Music of 1983 Part 1 and Part 2!

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

 

 

Direct download: Flopcast_583.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT

It's 1982 (in our hearts, at least), so we're looking at the Mad magazines of 1982. (Historians agree that for a truly accurate account of the past, you should just read Mad. Plus you get to do the Fold-In.) That year Mad's TV and movie parodies included Raiders of the Lost Ark, Archie Bunker's Place, Family Feud, For Your Eyes Only, The Greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, M*A*S*H, The Facts of Life, and Rocky III! (Want to see Alfred E. Neuman as Mr. T? Done!) Mad also covered video games (their Man of the Year may have been a Pac-Man) and did some silly stuff with lobsters too, just for Kornflake. And speaking of Kornflake, her pick for 1982 is a Corn Flakes commercial! Also: It's Freezepop Day. So listen to some synthpop and chomp on a weird frozen thing.

Mickey Rooney loves Corn Flakes!

Australian twins love Corn Flakes!

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_582.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Continuing our ten week celebration of the 1980s, we have some silly artifacts to examine from 1981. First Kornflake brings us a couple of Dr Pepper commercials featuring David Naughton (from "Makin' It"), Mickey Rooney (from "One of the Boys"), and the classic two-person horse costume (from our dreams). Kevin's 1981 pick is a Superman comic book produced by Radio Shack to introduce the children to the wonders of the TRS-80 computer. (We're convinced. Here at Chickentown Studios, we're ditching our Commodore VIC-20 and upgrading to a TRS-80.) Also: A surprise concert from Boston 90s alt-rock heroes Kay Hanley and Juliana Hatfield; Eclectic Lee lists a few more TV and movie maids, concluding five weeks of nonstop Flopcast maid and butler action; Kevin is on Earth Station DCU talking about Shazam; and Happy Birthday to Men at Work's Colin Hay! Time to blow out all the candles on your vegemite sandwich.

Mickey Rooney whistling about Dr Pepper!

Sugar Free Dr Pepper: Back of Horse-approved!

Shazam! On Earth Station DCU!

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_581.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:58am EDT

Episode 580 means we're kicking off another ten weeks of episodes dedicated to each year of the 1980s. (So yes, everybody will be forced to Wang Chung this summer.) We're starting with 1980, and we're looking at some of our favorite albums from that year. There's some new wave (Devo, The Buggles, The Cars), some Top 40 (Air Supply, Billy Joel, REO Speedwagon), some crucial soundtracks (Flash Gordon, Xanadu), and more. Then Kornflake shares a pair of silly 1980 commercials. (Were early 80s waitresses and bowlers completely obsessed with mouthwash? Let's find out.) Plus: A listener-submitted follow-up list of TV and movie butlers (this will end someday, we assure you), and Happy Birthday to Cyndi Lauper. If Goonies are good enough for Cyndi, they're good enough for us.

Mouthwash-obsessed bowlers of 1980!

Mouthwash-obsessed waitresses of 1980!

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This week's promo: The Soul Forge Podcast!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_580.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:48pm EDT

We start with a little follow-up from our recent Maids v. Butlers FlopFight. It's the "honorable mention" list of maids and butlers we couldn't fit in the tournament, including characters from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hazel, I Married Dora, and more. (Rest assured, we did not forget about We Got It Made. If only we could...) Then Kevin has a concert report, because beloved 80s pop princess Debbie Gibson came to town! Debbie put on a wonderful show including an Abba medley, a pajama party, a small dog, and perhaps even a wardrobe malfunction. Also: Kornflake has a Debbie hat, Kevin found a bin chicken (or something), and Happy Birthday to comedy writer/producer Greg Daniels. (If all he ever gave us was Chris Elliott's Get a Life, we'd still be eternally grateful.) Thanks for listening, kids. You just can't shake our love.

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This week's promo: Earth Station One!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_579.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:25pm EDT

Let's wrap up the weird tournament we started last week: Our latest FlopFight, featuring maids and butlers from sitcoms, cartoons, and beyond. We have TV characters from the 60s like Lurch (The Addams Family), Mr. French (Family Affair), and Rosie the Robot (The Jetsons). From the 80s we have Mr. Belvedere (from, you know, Mr. Belvedere), Nell (Gimme a Break), and even more maids from Diff'rent Strokes. And once again our special guest judge is Joe Crowe, Co-Director of the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track! Along the way, Kornflake celebrates Moonshine Day! Kevin has a squouse infestation! (A what?) Joe brings us Tales of the Nedra Volz Appreciation Society! We accidentally create a (perhaps inappropriate) new member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes! And one of us provides a pretty remarkable impression of Leon Redbone! So yeah, it gets a little silly. But only one maid or butler will survive. To make it more interesting, put some money down on your favorite. If you're Richie Rich, either your super-strong butler Cadbury or your robot maid Irona can fetch your wallet.

Find Joe at DragonCon's American Sci-Fi Classics Track!

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This week's promo: Con Guy!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_578.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We grew up in a world where seemingly every sitcom included a maid or a butler. Even middle class TV households somehow afforded live-in servants. And this week all those maids and butlers shall do battle in a good old fashioned FlopFight! What would happen if Benson (from Soap) and Florence (from The Jeffersons) were stranded on an island? How about hula-dancing Alice (The Brady Bunch) versus Batusi-dancing Alfred (Batman)? Anything could happen, and this week's winner will advance to the final round next week. And it's gonna get weird, so our special guest judge is a weirdness expert: Co-Director of the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track, Joe Crowe! So let's get ready to FlopFight. It might get a little messy, but a parade of Diff'rent Strokes maids should come along to mop up.

Find Joe at DragonCon's American Sci-Fi Classics Track!

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This week's promo: DragonCon Report!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_577.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:03pm EDT

Another quick and silly Flopcast, including: Way too much Scotch tape trivia from Kornflake; this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (and how they ranked in the 80s); Dolly Parton's new star-studded rock album (hey, where's Tiffany?); Bernie Taupin vs. REO Speedwagon; the Love Boat musical; and a "Chickens in the News" story from Mexico, where there are chickens in the trees and on the subway.

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_576.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:46am EDT

It's a quick Sunday brunch edition of The Flopcast! Except we forgot to have brunch! Anyway, Kevin has tales from the cold and rainy Margarita Half Marathon (with margaritas and shiny blankets), and the hot and grueling Providence Marathon (with Mickey Mouse hands and Jeff Goldblum heads). We also have some comic book recommendations: the new Shazam and Peacemaker series from DC Comics, and the new Jim & Celeste collection from friend of The Flopcast Jon Sloan. (Shazam and Peacemaker do not have forewords by Kornflake, but Jim & Celeste absolutely does!) Also: Happy Birthday to one of our favorite Go-Go's, Jane Wiedlin! Because go go go go go.

The Dojahng, home of the comics of Jon Sloan!

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This week's promo: The 42cast!

Direct download: Flopcast_575.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:50pm EDT

For just the second time in three horrifying years, Kevin and Kornflake are together in the same place for the Flopcast! And that place is... a hotel room in New Hampshire! (This is Kornflake's home state, and that explains A LOT.) To celebrate, we're learning some weird New Hampshire facts involving UFOs, old libraries, state songs, and a shopping mall where Kornflake may have gone to college. We also go through a list of famous people from New Hampshire, including three SNL cast members and someone who witnessed Kevin's terrible old Spam-juggling act. Finally Kornflake breaks out some giant weird New Hampshire cookies, and there is much chomping. This was all part of her plan to help Kevin carb up for a half marathon the following day. (Update: Kornflake promised miserable steady rain for the whole race, and she was CORRECT.)

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This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_574.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

It's another concert report, as we leave the house and creep down to Rhode Island to see Flopcast favorite Joan Osborne! And since Joan's big hit album (and that song - you know the one) came out way back in 1995, we're looking at the other albums we bought that year. There were lots of 1995 records from the women of the Boston rock scene (Juliana Hatfield, Mary Lou Lord, Belly, Letters to Cleo), as well as plenty more Lilith-friendly artists (Jewel, Ani DiFranco, Aimee Mann). We also recall the debut of Ben Folds Five, a weird covers album from Elvis Costello, and a band only Kornflake remembers. Plus: The Top Ten movies of 1995, a 90s edition of The Pudding Pages, and Happy Birthday to the guy who co-wrote all those Alanis songs. (Isn't this podcast ironic? No, it is not.)

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This week's promo: But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_573.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We're just sipping Green Day coffee and yipping through a few miscellaneous subjects. Including: A reunion of Slipnutz (one of the greatest bands ever to specialize in slipping on nuts); Disney animator Ron Clements (we're looking forward to his version of DC's goofy robot team the Metal Men); a concert report on the last Monkee standing, Micky Dolenz; a look at the debut albums of 1967 (including the big three: Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and Mr. Spock); and a Chickens in the News story from Woonsocket, Rhode Island involving DoorDash, Mr. Hibachi, and a frazzled hen who just wanted to cross the road.

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This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_572.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:19am EDT

1978's The Super Dictionary attempted to teach kids vocabulary using DC Comics superheroes. We don't know if it succeeded as a learning tool, but it sure succeeded in being super weird. (If you've ever seen that silly image of Lex Luthor stealing forty cakes, it comes from this very book.) This week we're examining a few Super Dictionary entries, which involve Wonder Woman sneezing, a banana for Aquaman, Robin chasing "the bad women" on bicycles, Superman trapped in a "soapy water ball," Supergirl as a centipede, Hawkgirl dancing on the ceiling like Lionel, and much more. We had to stop at "chicken," because we just couldn't take it anymore, but perhaps we'll revisit this bizarro book someday. Meanwhile, Happy Birthday to Conan O'Brien, whose podcast is way more popular than ours. Possibly because he doesn't just read from a dictionary.

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_571.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:51am EDT

We haven't reviewed a weird school book club magazine from the 80s since... oh wait, it was three weeks ago. Thanks for your patience. This time we're looking at a 1984 issue of Maniac, a short-lived Dynamite-type magazine aimed at a slightly older audience, with an added twist of Mad-style humor. This issue includes: Maniac holiday stickers; caricatures of Brooke Shields, Boy George, Mr. T, and Splash-style Daryl Hannah; a bizarre Maniac Top 40 list (spoiler: rubber chickens are at number 27); horse brains and rooster eggs; a disturbing variety of pen pal options; chances to win a signed Judy Blume book, a Betamax VCR, or a ZZ Top key chain; a shocking interview with Kate and Allie star Ari Meyers; dreamy posters of Billy Idol, David Lee Roth, and Duran Duran; the Dynamite "Bummers" page (sorry, that's the Maniac "Give Me a Break!" page); and yes, chocolate-covered birds. Okay, we officially love Maniac. The cover promises "laughs and more laughs." Our podcast does not.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

Direct download: Flopcast_570.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:51am EDT

A quick springtime mixed bag of weirdness: April has arrived, and Kornflake is celebrating with a sugary holiday of her own making, Maple Fools Day. Speaking of sugar, National Whatever Day finds us wishing a Happy Birthday to the writer of The Archies' greatest hit. Our impromptu Funko Pop game is so shocking that you won't believe your cold dead black vinyl eyes. Kevin races through Salem, Massachusetts for twenty miles in seach of giant black cats and Elizabeth Montgomery statues. And we randomly discover a short-lived 80s sitcom with a cast including the guy from Family Affair, the guy from Northern Exposure, and Magic Johnson. What does it all mean? Hey, we were hoping you could tell us.

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This week's promo: Thunder Talk!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_569.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:44am EDT

As suggested/threatened last week, we're doing a Top 4 1/2 List of 1980s dogs. (Kornflake is obsessed with dogs, Kevin is obsessed with the 80s... this had to happen.) Including: Several cartoon dogs, a Muppet dog, a WWF wrestling dog, a rock star dog, a certain beer-chugging dog who did NOT know when to say when, and much more. Yes, we've gone to the dogs, but for our show, that's probably an upgrade. Also: Happy Birthday to Footloose/Lost Boys mom Dianne Wiest, an update on KangaROOS, and Kornflake's Pinky and the Brain mystery socks.

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This week's promo: Monster Attack!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_568.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

It's about time for another Dynamite magazine review, but to mix things up, we're looking at a different (but eerily similar) magazine called Winner. A single issue of Winner was sold through school book clubs in 1982, and it's essentially a sports-themed version of Dynamite. Our discussion includes: John McEnroe's hair; Chris Evert on SNL; KangaROOS, the sneakers with pockets; how Kevin learned to juggle Spam; Larry Bird vs Dr. J vs Mike Brady; an ice skating lesson from Linda Fratianne; the longest baseball game in history (yes, it happened in Rhode Island); a wedding on rollerskates; the shockingly high cost of a keyboard for your Intellivision; and why sad kids have the best posters. Also: It's National Puppy Day, so you might as well send all your dogs to go live with Kornflake.

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This week's promos: 
Earth Station DCU!
Monkeeing Around!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_567.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:58pm EDT

It's another Flopcast tribute to V66, Boston's music video TV channel of the mid-80s! (We do this every one hundred episodes. It's all we have.) This time we thought we'd look at Billboard's Top 66 songs of 1986, an amazing list of absolutely classic 80s pop. (Flopcast favorite Billy Ocean made the list twice, and no, that's not nearly enough Billy Ocean.) And Kornflake has even pared the Top 66 list down to her own weird Top 4 1/2 List, including freestyle stars The Jets and Lisa Lisa, a Rocky sequel song from Survivor (but not that one), one hit wonder Sly Fox (remember them?), and more. (And do Kevin and Kornflake agree on the list's worst song, which somehow landed way up at number 12? Oh yes.) For more V66 fun, as always we recommend the wonderful documentary Life on the V. Also: Happy Birthday to Michael Caine, who coincidentally starred in approximately every 80s movie.

Life on the V: The Story of V66!

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This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_566.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:12pm EDT

The Flopcast Book Club is finally back in session, and we're discussing Bill Mumy's new memoir Danger, Will Robinson: The Full Mumy. Best known for Lost in Space and The Twilight Zone, Bill was one of the busiest child actors of the 1960s, and has stayed busy with television, film, and music projects ever since. We cover Bill's Disney movies co-starring seals and raccoons; his experiences on The Munsters and Bewitched; his adventures with Shaun Cassidy, Rick Springfield, and "Weird Al" Yankovic; his comic book band Seduction of the Innocent; his new supergroup Action Skulls; and most importantly, his Pez collection. And don't forget Bill's other band Barnes & Barnes, whose classic novelty song "Fish Heads" somehow led to a year's supply of iced coffee for Kornflake. (RIP Robert Haimer, the other half of Barnes & Barnes, and thanks for the decades of weird music. Yeah.) So stay out of the cornfield and check out the book. We recommend reading it while a big goofy robot screams at you.

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This week's promo: The Best Saturdays of Our Lives!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_565.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:15am EDT

It's a rather random 1980s-themed show, as a coin toss leads to our celebrating the birthday of 80s one hit (or maybe two hit) wonder Eddy Grant. Then we flip to a random page in our Ranking the 80s book and discuss a song about (possibly inappropriate) touching. (Yes, we know we just described every song.) Finally we break out a book that just arrived here at the studio: Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s: A Complete Guide! And we land on a 1989 sitcom that only lasted four episodes, but Kornflake watched them all, even though the show was horrible. These days we're watching Australian spelling bees and Diff'rent Strokes reruns. Our entertainment options have improved, but our taste has not.

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This week's promo: The Soul Forge Podcast!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_564.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:03pm EDT

After a quick break for a couple of less weird episodes, it's time to wrap up The Weird Al Game, in which Kevin and Kornflake try to guess each other's favorite "Weird Al" Yankovic songs. (Hey, who comes up with better games than us? Please don't answer that.) This time we're covering Al's records from 1993 through 2014, so get ready for a cavalcade of giant TVs, phony calls, word crimes, Canadian idiots, and wonder hamsters. Feel free to play along and let us know your favorites! In the end, a winner shall be declared. But Don Pardo would probably say we're all complete losers.

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This week's promo: Metal Geeks!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_563.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:23am EDT

Kornflake has the week off, but we have a special guest in Chickentown to fill in: It's our big podcasting bossman, ESO Network Director Mike Faber! And we're talking music again. Mike has been to more concerts than Kevin and Kornflake combined, and has prepared a Top 4 1/2 List of his favorite concerts ever! Some of Mike's picks, while impressive, will not shock you. (REM in 1983! Springsteen in 1984!) However (here comes the clickbait), you'll never guess some of the others. (Mike was at Woodstock, and that did not make the list! Country Joe and the Fish are most displeased.) Along the way, our discussion also includes The Cars, ELO, They Might Be Giants, Lenny Kravitz, Dr. Demento, Johnny Hates Jazz, and much more. Enjoy! (Hey, the podcast is free, but to simulate the concert experience, maybe we should attach some unreasonable Ticketmaster-style service fees...)

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This week's promo: Earth Station One!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_562.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

We're taking a break from our Weird Al game, because it's time to review this year's list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kate Bush is back on the list, perhaps due to her Stranger Things-fueled resurgence. A couple of Kornflake's favorites are newly eligible nominees: Missy Elliott and the White Stripes. Since Dolly kicked in the door last year, another country legend is in the running this year: Willie Nelson. And a couple of our 80s pop heroes, Cyndi Lauper and George Michael, have finally been nominated. We break it all down for you, despite being furious about the continued snubbing of Right Said Fred. Also, for you science nerds: Kornflake has a trivia question about the periodic table of elements, and is searching the night sky for a mysterious green comet. We assume it was sent from the planet Oa by the Guardians of the Universe.

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This week's promo: Con Guy! 

Direct download: Flopcast_561.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:20am EDT

We've had "Weird Al" Yankovic on our minds lately, probably because Kevin just participated in an American Sci-Fi Classics panel all about Al. (Check it out! We have a YouTube link just for you.) So we just invented The Weird Al Game, in which Kevin and Kornflake try to guess each other's favorite Weird Al songs. This week we're covering Al's first seven albums. Does Kornflake want a new duck? Will Kevin visit the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota? Join us as we dare to be stupid. (Admittedly, that's business as usual around here...) Also: Kornflake is celebrating Ice Cream For Breakfast Day, because apparently she loves rocky road.

The American Sci-Fi Classics Track online panel all about Weird Al!

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This week's promo: But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

Direct download: Flopcast_560.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:24pm EDT

We are back from Arisia, Boston's annual convention of science fiction, fantasy, and general geekery. So here's our full report, including Kevin's comic book panels (on comic book memoirs and the history of Image Comics), the Mayor of Chickentown's Age and Fandom panel, and our pal Kevin Cafferty's Year in TV and Year in Star Wars panels! Also: The Post Meridian Radio Players with another fine genderswap Star Trek show! (We are big fans of Captain Jane T. Kirk.) The Geeky Belly Dance Show! The Masquerade! Our favorite costumes! (Our favorite costumes involved lobsters and anteaters, of course.) And Kevin runs around Boston like a maniac, finds the new MLK "Embrace" sculpture, and helps out the tourists at Cheers. Plus: Stargirl talk on Earth Station One, and National Whatever Day, because nothing is going to break Kornflake's stride.

Earth Station One episode 668 - A Look Back at Stargirl!

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Direct download: Flopcast_559.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:48pm EDT

This weekend we are at Arisia, one of our favorite local fantasy and science fiction conventions. If you drop everything and run screaming towards Boston RIGHT NOW, you may be able to catch Kevin moderating a panel about Image Comics. (Bring your mint condition CGC-slabbed Walking Dead #1. We'll sign it and ruin it.) And yes, we have goofy badge ribbons for you. Watch for our full report on Arisia next week. But meanwhile this week: A "Chickens in the News" story about man vs. chicken vs. garage, devil tales (and Drake's Devil Dogs) on the Earth Station One podcast, and Happy Birthday to Ronnie Milsap, who made some early 80s country pop songs that we actually liked.

If it's not too late, find us at Arisia!

Earth Station One episode 666 - Our Favorite Devil Tales!

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This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

Direct download: Flopcast_558.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Let's wrap up our annual two-part memorial show, because we just can't take it anymore. This week's list includes: a couple of animation legends (Jules Bass and Paul Coker Jr.), a couple more 80s comedy stars (Judy Tenuta and Gallagher), beloved television actors (Nichelle Nichols and Tony Dow), beloved singers (Olivia Newton John and Irene Cara), another Goodfellas star, another Sesame Street star, another Gorgeous Lady of Wrestling, the voice of Batman, the creator of The Monkees, the evil guy from Tron, a Pointer sister, and many more. As usual, we recommend that you have a strong beverage standing by. Just be sure to cover it when the watermelons start flying.

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This week's promo: Thunder Talk!

Direct download: Flopcast_557.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:15am EDT

Our annual two-part memorial show begins here, as we recall the pop culture legends we lost in the first half of 2022. Including: actors (Sidney Poitier, Sally Kellerman, William Hurt, Ray Liotta), musicians (Ronnie Spector, Meat Loaf, Vangelis), comedians (Bob Saget, Louie Anderson, Gilbert Gottfried), artists (Neal Adams, George PĂ©rez), a Gorgeous Lady of Wrestling, the moms from Seinfeld, the guy who made "Convoy," and many more. So join us, and bring a beverage. (Maybe garnish it with an orange slice. For Gilbert.)

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This week's promo: Epsilon Three!

Direct download: Flopcast_556_for_libsyn.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:13pm EDT

Last show of the year! So it's a quick one, as we look back on another goofy year of Flopcasting, including our 2022 Flopcast guests (all four of them), our strict cupcake and lobster roll diet program, and our ongoing obsession with Canadian PSAs. Plus: Happy Birthday to Ted Danson! Part 2 of our holiday podcast crossover with But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! (Warning: May contain Sponge Awareness music.) One last Electra Woman and Dyna Girl review on The Batcave Podcast! (Yes, it's the bizarre Markie Post pilot.) And A Very Pac-Man Christmas with the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track! (Also A Very Manimal Christmas and A Very Turbo Teen Christmas. Someone probably should have stopped us.) And finally... our New Year's Resolutions. Sort of. See you in 2023, nerds.

The second half of our holiday crossover with But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

Our final Electra Woman review on The Batcave Podcast!

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land: The American Sci-Fi Classics table read!

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Direct download: Flopcast_555.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Lots of weird holiday mirth and/or merriment this week! First we celebrate National Hard Candy Day with a True Tale of Ribbon Candy. Then Kornflake's annual pilgrimage to the Trap Tree yields startling results. Kornflake also has a new favorite holiday special, and of course the star of Footloose is involved. We also flip through Holly Jolly, a wonderful book of pop culture Christmas history, and learn that the first store Santa appeared in 1890 in nearby Brockton, Massachusetts. (We assume he was as cranky and unpleasant as the rest of us locals.) Then it's time for The Figgy Pudding Pages, and Kornflake has a True Tale of Holiday Air Hockey Injuries. And for our main event, we welcome back Martha and Brittany, the hosts of our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! Reporting live from Las Vegas, they tell us about Christmas at Disneyland, miserable Christmas decoration vandals, and their recent discovery of a Hallmark Christmas movie that actually wasn't bad. Then it's time for a silly little game, as Martha and Brittany take our Christmas Cartoon Quote Quiz! We assume you've been studying all those classic Rankin/Bass shows, so you can play along too! Grab an egg nog, feel free to spike it until you're properly nogified, and enjoy. This week's show is so festive that you'll feel like Jack Frost is nipping at you inappropriately.

Find the second half of our holiday crossover on Episode 79 of But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

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This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_554.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:25pm EDT

It's no secret that we're obsessed with holiday cartoons, and this week we're diving into Frosty the Snowman and its sequels. Everyone knows the 1969 Rankin/Bass original, in which Frosty and Karen hitch a train to the North Pole so Frosty can melt away while Karen freezes to death. Then there's Frosty's Winter Wonderland from 1976, with Jack Frost serving as Best Man at a bizarre snow-person wedding. 1979 saw the ultimate Rankin/Bass crossover event: Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. (Worlds will live, worlds will die, Ethel Merman will sing, and the RBU will never be the same.) Things get even weirder in 1992 with Frosty Returns. John Goodman is the voice of Frosty, SNL's Lorne Michaels is the producer, music is by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, and director Bill Melendez makes the whole thing look like a Charlie Brown special. Finally we have 2005's The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, which brings it all back to the original cartoon with a cameo from long-suffering magician Professor Hinkle. And if you've been waiting for a Frosty cartoon narrated by Burt Reynolds, this is it. (Also this week: Kevin Geeks Out About Christmas. Seriously.) So slip into your favorite magic hat and we'll all go belly-whopping together. Happy Birthday.

Kevin Geeks Out!

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This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_553.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:48pm EDT

For our holiday shopping, we're traveling back to 1981 and looking through an advertisement flyer from Child World, a toy store chain that just happened to have a Woonsocket, Rhode Island location. Kevin and Kornflake have selected 4 1/2 gifts for each other, but we used very different shopping strategies. Kornflake thoughtfully chose classic video games, Star Wars toys, and super hero action figures. Meanwhile Kevin was just looking for strange stuff, so we have a freaky doll with hair that really grows, a forgotten (but possibly awesome) game called Baboon Ball, a forgotten (but possibly terrifying) playset called the Clown House, and more. Cover yourselves; things are about to get weird under the tree.

The 1981 Child World flyer, compliments of Plaid Stallions!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Earth Station One!

Direct download: Flopcast_552.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:56pm EDT

As is tradition around here, we're taking a bunch of those Hallmark-style made-for-TV holiday movies, and we're fixing them. Over 150 goofy new holiday movies are debuting this year, and they're all the same: random big city career women are returning to their hometowns to save their grandfathers' stuggling figgy pudding shops while also falling in love with flannel-shirted dudes who run kitten orphanages. Our plan is to randomly insert some weird new element to each movie, thus creating an instant holiday classic. Can these movies be redeemed by adding stuff like roller disco, giant starfish, or actors from Happy Days? We think you know the answer. Hang on, kids, we're gonna save Christmas.

Earth Station One's Geek Holiday Gift Guide!

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The Flopcast website!

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The Flopcast on Twitter!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Drinking With Authors!

Direct download: Flopcast_551.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:26pm EDT

We're creeping into the holiday season with a concert report, because Boston rock heroes Letters to Cleo are back for their annual homecoming shows. This year they brought along super-cool Brooklyn-based band Thick to open the show, and Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley is clearly a fan. Throw in a surprise Cleo horn section, and a festive time was had by all. We're also looking ahead at the goofiness of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. This year's balloons include the Pillsbury Doughboy, Baby Yoda, and (thanks to recent exposure here on The Flopcast, we assume) Smokey Bear. There's also a giant acorn balloon, because why not. And if you've been secretly hoping for a bread-themed parade float, with hundreds of giant foam bread slices rising into the sky, this is your year. Also: On The Batcave Podcast, Kevin and John finally wrap up their review of the 1970s Saturday morning series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl! So there, you finally have something to be thankful for.

More Electra Woman talk on The Batcave Podcast!

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Twitter!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Best Saturdays of Our Lives!

Direct download: Flopcast_550.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:02am EDT

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