The Flopcast

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The Flopcast

Grab a coffee and join us to discuss cartoons, music, 80s pop culture, and random silly things...

09/12/2025

Flopcast episode 709! Every year, dozens of ridiculous identical holiday movies are unleashed by Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix, and the like. (They're so cookie-cutter that many of them literally involve cutting cookies.) And every year, we try to fix them by making them weirder. So we've selected a few new Christmas movies, and we're discussing their plots (featuring time travel, glassblowing, and pickleball) and casts (featuring, as always, Lacey Chabert). Then we're randomly inserting some strange new element (a camel with wings, perhaps) into each movie so it meets our strict weirdness standards. There, we just saved Christmas. Pass the figgy pudding. (Link in the comments!)

01/12/2025

Flopcast episode 708! Before we plunge into weeks of holiday silliness, here's something different for you! Five years ago, our friend Amanda decided to run at least one mile in each of the 351 towns and cities that make up Massachusetts. A month ago, she finished. And she's here to tell us all about the whole project. Including: Covered bridges, waterfalls, murder roads, World War II bunkers, Jaws filming sites, an alleged UFO encounter site, Myles Standish's legs, a chicken with a backpack, sweaty women on a bus, and much more. It all wrapped up in the geographic center of the state with dozens of friends, special Running Massachusetts t-shirts, and beer. But even if you weren't there, you can still help Amanda support Voices Against Violence; we'll have a link for you. Next week we'll be back to our usual festive shenanigans. Please bring eight gallons of egg nog. (Link in the comments!)

25/11/2025

Flopcast episode 707! As we creep into the holidays, once again we're looking back at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades of the past. (Debbie Gibson is scheduled to perform at this year's parade, so you should all be road-tripping to Manhattan RIGHT NOW.) We start with the 2015 parade (featuring that top-hatted honey-roasted freak, Mr. Peanut), then keep jumping back ten years at a time, all the way to the premiere of the Underdog balloon in 1965. (Underdog has been watching us from above ever since, and he is most displeased.) Along the way, we'll meet some of our favorite pop culture stars (even Alice from The Brady Bunch shows up), and we'll pay our respects to the giant balloon characters that were torn apart by trees and lamp posts. (Now we know why Kermit the Frog and Pink Panther hate Thanksgiving.) So fix yourself a festive plate of popcorn, jelly beans, pretzels, and toast, and enjoy. (Link in the comments!)

18/11/2025

Flopcast episode 706! When our favorite 1980s soft rock band comes to the town where we spent the 1980s, you know we'll be there. And so Kevin has a report from the sold out Air Supply concert at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, Rhode Island! (We were front row center. Close enough to catch an official Air Supply guitar pick? You bet.) Also: The Mayor of Chickentown joins the Early Birds Club! Kevin accidentally runs a half marathon! And Finnish nannies sing Badfinger! Next week we'll have some holiday stuff. This week we're just being goofy. (Link in the comments!)

11/11/2025

Flopcast episode 705! We're back with our full report on the city of Seattle, which turned out to be way over on the other side of the continent. (Probably should have packed a bag or something...) How many weird and silly activities could we squish into just a few days out west? Let's find out. Including: Retro-futuristic fun at the Space Needle! A robot on the monorail! Angry otters at the aquarium! A massive collection of nerd stuff at the Museum of Pop Culture! Giant trolls! A visit to Archie McPhee's Rubber Chicken Museum! A visit to filming locations from Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure! A fortune-telling psychic chicken! And yikes, even more. Why, we'll even teach you the proper way to pronounce "Seattle," if you believe everything from The Brady Bunch. And we do. (Link in the comments!)

02/11/2025

Flopcast episode 704! It's been about a year since we killed a whole episode flipping through an issue of Dynamite, that classic magazine for kids of the 70s and 80s, so let's do it. We have an issue from 1976 (compliments of Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion!) and on the cover are America's favorite toothy Mormons, Donny and Marie Osmond! Also in this issue: Fashion tips direct from Medford, Massachusetts; an Elton John pinball machine; a remarkable new gadget called the Betamax; the adventures of the Dynamite Duo and their new superhero pal, Jive Turkey; Magic Wanda in her painter's pants; a visit to Marvel Comics to learn about Spider-Man; weird nicknames for Ron Howard; how to start your own sky-writing business; how to cook ping pong balls; a sad trombone player; Dynamite Bummers; and much more. It's fantastic. So when your teacher hands out this month's school book club order form... you know what to do. (Link in the comments!)

28/10/2025

Flopcast episode 703! For our Halloween episode, we're revisiting a favorite subject: the cheapo department store Halloween costumes produced for decades by the Ben Cooper company. (With a little help from Oldtimes Digest and Plaid Stallions!) Kids loved slipping into their uncomfortable plastic masks and weird vinyl smocks for an evening of begging the neighbors for Twix bars. We look at superhero costumes (including some odd ones like Web Woman), Krofft costumes (you could be a Sleestak, a Bugaloo, or even Dr. Shrinker), and lots more, including the infamous Fonzie "He-e-y!" costume. Also: The classic Universal monster movies! A brilliant new monster t-shirt from cartoonist Kerry Callen! And the new Muppet-style versions of Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula! So have a festive Halloween, kids. We recommend shivering in a pumpkin patch all night until your angry sister drags you inside. (Link in the comments!)

20/10/2025

Flopcast episode 702! We're back from a quick visit to Albany, New York, where Kevin ran a half marathon (finishing in 309th place, probably not qualifying for the Olympics) and learned the shocking truth about Alice from The Brady Bunch. Now here in Chickentown, we're looking at an odd 1959 comic book called Weather-Bird. It stars a chicken and a goat, and the whole thing is a promotional gimmick to sell children's shoes. We love it. And we were reminded of some other weird comic book shoe ads. Several 1970s ads star a shoe-themed superhero called the AAU Shuperstar. One of his enemies is called Missile-Toe. And we can't stop thinking about them. We might have a problem. (Link in the comments!)

13/10/2025

Flopcast episode 701! It's no secret that we're rather obsessed with the 80s around here, so this week we're chatting with Debby Meltzer Quick, Author. Debby's first novel (the first of several!) is May I Have Your Attention Please, a mid-80s high school romance set in Eastboro, Massachusetts. Kevin and Debby discuss the novel itself, how much pop culture nostalgia to include in a story, how to draw from one's own life without getting too autobiographical, and much more. Including: 80s movies both well-remembered (The Breakfast Club) and largely forgotten (Give My Regards to Broad Street); going to the Worcester Centrum to see Van Halen, Ratt, and U2 (but alas, not Journey); getting up early for Underdog cartoons; working at the cookie shop at the mall; the weirdness of Orange Julius; early video game systems; bad coffee; new Coke; and the dining room carpet Debby has not been allowed to walk on for forty years and counting. We really enjoyed this conversation, and you will too. And if you can find Eastboro, Massachusetts on a map, please let us know. (Link in the comments!)

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