The Flopcast

For no good reason, every summer we present a Top 4 1/2 List of robots! So it's time for our eighth annual robot list, and the theme this year is... tiny robots. We have tiny robots from movies, television, music, toys, comic books, and even the real world, where someday soon you could be injected with millions of nanobots and forced to do their bidding. And that day... will be a great day. We're...

It's summer concert report time, because our white and nerdy hero "Weird Al" Yankovic just came through New England with his "Strings Attached" tour, featuring an entire symphony orchestra! Kornflake and Doornail scored VIP tickets to the New Hampshire show, where they ventured backstage and met Weird Al himself (plus a bunch of Stormtroopers). Weird Al's Boston show was next, at an outdoor venue...

The longest summer in history continues, thanks to our ill-conceived project of watching all the horrifying sequels to that classic summer camp comedy, Meatballs. Tonight we're suffering through Meatballs III: Summer Job, which is even worse than Meatballs II, and is not even set at a summer camp. But it does offer an early starring role for Patrick Dempsey, replacing Chris Makepeace from the orig...

Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown have just returned from CONvergence, a wonderful science fiction/fantasy convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So we're reviewing our whole crazy Fourth of July weekend in the upper midwest, including: Kevin's panels on Aquaman, Riverdale, and DC comic books, TV shows, and movies; the Mayor's panels on She-Ra, Doctor Who, The Magicians, and choosing your own adve...

We're still recovering from last week's movie night (Summer camp aliens! Run for your lives!), so it's a simple show this week, catching up on our recent silly activities. Including: Kornflake on the road in search of adventure and/or relaxation; the music of Carbon Leaf; a live album release show by The Great Molasses Flood; another Moth storytelling show with Matthew Dicks; the Mayor onstage at...

Last summer, we devoted a Flopcast episode to Meatballs, the Bill Murray summer camp classic. This summer, we're going to suffer through the horrifying Meatballs sequels. (It's a court-ordered punishment, presumably. Don't jaywalk in Chickentown, kids.) So for this episode, with Kornflake kicking and screaming in protest, we get started by watching and discussing Meatballs Part II. The year was 19...

Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are preparing for a silly, geeky Fourth of July weekend at CONvergence! It's one of our favorite conventions, it's in Minneapolis, and there is a giant blue chicken sculpture nearby. Perfect. Guests at this year's CONvergence include writers Peter David and Chuck Tingle, comedian Joseph Scrimshaw, and nerd music duo The Doubleclicks! We're also looking forward to...

Here at last is our God's Comics concert review! Every ten years, Kevin gets together with friends Sean and Adam to form God's Comics, a cover band that only plays Elvis Costello, Men at Work, and The Monkees. In the wake of our legendary 1999 and 2009 shows, our adoring fans demanded a third show, which happened just last month at The Hearing Room in Lowell, Massachusetts. 'Twas a festive evening...

It's no secret that Kevin and Kornflake are longtime fans of Brooklyn's ambassadors of love, They Might Be Giants. (Their matching Doctor Worm tattoos sort of gave it away.) And since John Linnell (you know, the keyboard/accordion half of the band) has a birthday this week, we're sharing a few TMBG memories, and flipping through a giant (well, it might be giant) stack of TMBG albums. Including: Ke...

Here's an extra-special, extra-weird show we've been meaning to unleash for a few weeks. It's the adventures of Kornflake and Doornail at MarsCon 2019! Yeah, we already discussed MarsCon (the Minnesota science fiction convention which also hosts our beloved Dementia Track of comedy music) back in Flopcast episode 358. But now you'll get the whole story, from both Kornflake and our perpetually gigg...

It's an extra-goofy show, because we're recording from separate remote locations, AND our recording equipment keeps malfunctioning! But we're here anyway, just for you. And this random catch-up sort of show features: Joe Cool vs. Mr. Cool; Star Wars burlesque; stand-up comedy with Dana Gould, Bobcat Goldthwait, and friends; Queen Jessica Mercy at the Watch City Steampunk Festival; our ESO Network...

We're just days away from the third ever performance of Kevin's weird cover band, God's Comics! So this week we have a special interview with our God's Comics co-conspirator, Sean Fullerton! Kevin and Sean recall their mid-90s glory days at the late great Grind coffeehouse, and how their love of Men at Work, Elvis Costello, and The Monkees led to this silly cover band project. Join us at The Heari...

It's our goofy anniversary show, as Kevin and Kornflake celebrate seven years of The Flopcast! Yes, we've released a Flopcast every single week since May 2012, because clearly there is something wrong with us. Join us as we run through some fascinating Flopcast stats! (Have we done more Top 4 1/2 Lists or Chickens in the News? Stuff this very important information into your brain.) We also look at...

Kevin and the Mayor road trip down to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for an evening of science and silliness with George Hrab and the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe. (We assumed Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey would meet us in Bethlehem... but we had a lot of growing up to do.) Meanwhile Kornflake checks out an online concert by our favorite sci-fi pop band, the future of the future, The Fantasti...

Time for another Top 4 1/2 List, and the subject this week is... wonder. (Why yes, we are out of ideas, how could you tell?) Our list of favorite wonder stuff includes some obvious picks like Wonder Woman and Stevie Wonder... but things get weirder as we explore puppet dune buggies, songs we hate, robot bears, robot girls, and Space Monkey Gleek's tricky pals. It's a wonderful list, as the ghost o...

After slacking off through the miserable winter, we attempt to catch up with TWO Kornflake on the Road segments. First Kornflake visits a beachside coffee shop and returns with a bag of mysterious prizes. Then Kornflake joins Kevin and the Mayor at a crowded Boston bar for a surprise show by our favorite synthpop band, Freezepop! (Spotted in the Freezepop crowd: talkative strangers, science fictio...

While Kornflake's away, Kevin and the Mayor discuss a recent stand-up comedy show from Saturday Night Live veterans Jon Lovitz (Tonto!), Tim Meadows (The Ladies Man!), and Chris Kattan (Mango!). 'Twas a fun show, especially the opening set by a friend of the Flopcast, TV Guidance Counselor's Ken Reid. And we were inspired to recall all the times we've previously encountered SNL cast members. Inclu...

Two more concert reports this week: First 80s pop star Taylor Dayne came to town, and we told it to her heart, proved our love, and didn't rush her. We also read her new autobiography, so we're bursting with fun Taylor facts, only some of which involve shady Russian nightclubs and wolves. Next KISS brought their big goofy rock show to Boston, and we were there, hoping to see Fake Gene Simmons ridi...

Here's our big silly report from Northeast Comic Con in exotic Boxborough, Massachusetts! Featuring: Rubber Chicken Comics, Lost in Space's Mark Goddard, weird comedy from Mark Gallagher, kaiju rock from Gwello, chicken songs from The Fools, and Cesar Romero rumors from Gilbert Gottfried! Then it's time for another round of Capes or Apes, in which we flip through an old Spider Woman comic book and...

Just a couple of quick items this week: A Monkees concert report and a Captain Marvel movie report. Reaching our beloved Monkees (Mike and Micky) involved a long perilous ferry ride to Long Island; 'twas about an hour at sea, and we'll never be the same. Getting to the movie was simpler, but we're still waiting to see the real Captain Marvel on the big screen. No, not Shazam. We mean the 1960s ali...

Kornflake braved the subzero temperatures of winter in Minnesota, and now she's back with her annual report from MarsCon! It's the science fiction convention that also has a whole track of comedy music, and this year's performers included old and new Flopcast friends like Insane Ian, Cutesylvania, TV's Kyle and Linzilla, Power Salad, the great Luke Ski, Devo Spice, Jeff Whitmire, Michael Hunter, C...

Here we go, kids! Time to flip though another goofy old issue of Dynamite magazine! (It's a Flopcast tradition, especially when we have to wait until next week for Kornflake's MarsCon report.) This is a 1978 Dynamite, and the cover story is, "The Bee Gees vs. The Beatles: Who's the Greatest?" Our answer is The Bay City Rollers, which is why no one asked us. Also featured in this issue: Tatum O'Nea...

We've been threatening to do a whole show about creepy songs for quite a while... and here we are. The history of pop music is just lousy with inappropriate songs, and this week we're counting down our favorites (?) in a very creepy Top 4 1/2 List. Why, even Springsteen strayed into creepy territory in the mid-80s when he asked, "Hey little girl, is your daddy home?" And of course, back in the 60s...

In our first official installment of Kornflake On the Road, Kornflake checks out Chris's Comics in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and we recall the first comic book shops we ever visited. (We recommend Starship Excalibur in Providence, Rhode Island, assuming you can get yourself back to 1984.) Our comic book talk also includes some old favorites (Blue Devil, Swamp Thing, Y: The Last Man) and a new one (...

It's a short show, because Kornflake called in sick, and the rest of us should have. But Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are still here, all miserable and confused, for a quick goofy conversation. Subjects include: The big Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One! (Hey, isn't the Mayor supposed to be there right now? Oops.) The Bugs Bunny Film Festival! The Old School Game Show! Quiz-o-Tron! ESO Ri...