Chillpak Hollywood Hour

Original Air Date: Monday 16 August, 9 pm Eastern Description: After their most drunken episode ever, this week's show finds Dean back in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham and Phil in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Thanks to an email from a loyal listener and frequent collaborator, they will be revisiting a discussion of Wu Tang Clan from two weeks ago. And thanks to developing news, th...

Original Date: January 26, 2009 Philip Newby was an incredibly gifted actor-writer-performer, and the first guest Dean and Phil ever welcomed to Chillpak Hollywood Hour (27 August 2007, episode #17, back when we were still “From the Heart of Hollywood”). Philip killed himself this past week. Phil and Dean share memories of their friend and try to put this deeply felt loss into some sort of perspec...

Original Air Date: Monday 9 August, 9 pm Eastern Description: Phil is back from exploring the east coast of the USA. Dean has been in Los Angeles, celebrating his birthday. You can join them poolside atop a certain “historic building in downtown Los Angeles” for big laughs, a lot of wine, and attempted conversations about Dean’s birthday, the joys of Maine, an awesome bookstore, the influence Jack...

Original Date: January 19, 2009 It’s Martin Luther King Day – a holiday for most, but not for Dean and Phil, who pack even more into an hour (plus) than usual! From discussing the legacies of the dearly departed Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban, to answering the screenwriting questions of their loyal listener the Venerable Pooh, to filling out their Screen Actors Guild Awards ballots on the...

Original Air Date: Monday 2 August, 9 pm Eastern Description: Happy August, everybody! This month might well tell the tale of whether the USA puts the pandemic behind it or whether Covid-19 stays with us in some form or another for quite a while longer … Before we let go of July, however, Dean and Phil want to celebrate the recent Cannes Film Festival, putting several very promising and fascinatin...

Original Date: September 26, 2016 Recorded a few days early, this week’s show truly has something for everyone, and if anyone claims it doesn’t, we hope they feel better soon! True gentleman and outstanding filmmaker Curtis Hanson is remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. The Emmy Awards, and especially Jimmy Kimmel’s performance hosting them, are discussed. The Colin Kaepernick National Anthem protest...

Original Air Date: Monday 26 July, 9 pm Eastern Description: Much of what we think we see in a movie is based on what we hear. To this day, much of what we expect of how a movie will sound is because of the indelible impacts made by such legendary composers as Max Steiner and Bernard Hermann. Steven Smith is a prolific documentary filmmaker, an historian, a lecturer and the author of books detaili...

Original Date: January 5, 2009 Phil just got back from rubbing elbows with the D.C. social set. Dean stayed in town and hit a Hollywood party and hit it hard based on the stories he shares (Fran Drescher? Poop? Three bottles of champagne?). In addition to comparing notes on their holiday hijinx, Dean and Phil discuss the many films they’ve seen during the past two weeks. Phil saw several foreign l...

Original Air Date: Monday 19 July, 9 pm Eastern Description: If you have listened to our last few episodes, you know that conversation has really started to focus on great movies, great directors AND on silent film being appreciated as its own art form. On this week’s show, Dean and Phil really drill down into each of these topics by focusing on the careers, artistry and legacies of two formative...

Original Date: March 30, 2015 Dean Haglund is back from Australia where he was busy laying the groundwork for his full-time move down under in May. While he was there, he Skyped with Phil Leirness because, well, your friends in podcasting miss each other when they are apart AND because there was the big news about the return of “The X-Files” to discuss. Part of this week’s show will be that (recor...

Original Air Date: Monday 12 July, 9 pm Eastern Description: Your friends in podcasting celebrate summer and the traditional "summer movie season" with a show full of great movie directors. First, Dean and Phil remember three groundbreaking directors in "Celebrity Deaths" - one of whom directed some of the best box office hits of the 70's, 80's and 90's, one of whom was a key figure in underground...

Original Date: January 26, 2016 As you know, each year, your friends in podcasting celebrate what they think were the best films of the previous year. Well, this year, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness welcome special guest, film critic and Los Angeles Film Critics Association member Luke Y. Thompson to help them as they discuss the best films AND the worst films of 2015! Best and worst in one show?!...

Original Air Date: Monday 5 July, 9 pm Eastern Description: The USA celebrated its independence this weekend, but the fireworks continue on this brand new installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! Dean shares a hysterical story about the making of a film he did many years back. Then he and Phil discuss in detail a wide array of movies, including a silent classic from Hitchcock, a current horror...

Original Date: December 15, 2008 Dean is back from the Eco Gift Fest with some rather sad news about the state of “Green” commerce in the face of the current “economic downturn.” That downturn isn’t keeping people away from movie theatres and Dean and Phil analyze the latest box office returns. They also get into some filmmaking nitty-gritty, discussing the importance of tone, as well as the art a...

Original Air Date: Monday 28 June, 9 pm Eastern Description: Following a “cold open” all about another of Dean’s all-time favorite episodes of “The X-Files”, Dean and Phil open their mailbag to answer questions from listeners like you (yes, YOU!). One email concerns why actor Nicholas Lea never appeared on the spin-off series “The Lone Gunmen” and whether Dean would ever join the internet service...

Top 10 Musicals

Original Air Date: Monday 21 June, 9 pm Eastern Description: Dean and Phil follow up on last week’s awesome show by discussing more about “Hollywood accounting” and how in show biz the “bottom line” is often NOT the bottom line! Last week, while discussing the box office struggles of the brand new In the Heights, Dean and Phil were inspired to look back at two dance films based on the same craze t...

Original Date: December 2, 2008 An action-packed hour if ever there was one! Dean and Phil discuss the reading of Phil’s new screenplay, compare notes on their Thanksgiving adventures, weigh in on the SAG strike authorization vote, preview more than a dozen early December film releases, and discuss the Spirit Award Nominations ( indie film’s “Oscars”). They also send out birthday wishes to Phil’s...

Original Air Date: Monday 14 June, 9 pm Eastern Description: This week’s show begins with an email from a listener in Ireland about dialect coaches and “Hollywood accounting”. After that, Dean and Phil analyze the box office struggles of the brand new In the Heights and this inspires them to look back at two song and dance films that opened on the same day many years ago, both based on the same da...

Original Date: November 24, 2008 Dean and Phil are off to Olandar tonight for a special reading of Phil’s new screenplay, but before they go, they’ve checked into the offices to record a special birthday episode. Join Dean in helping Phil celebrate as Phil turns The New 30! Dean also catches us up on the latest adventures filming Rough Hustle on location in Nevada. Dean and Phil discuss the James...

Original Air Date: Monday 7 June, 9 pm Eastern Description: Phil is back in Los Angeles. Dean is at home in Birmingham, Michigan, and they are unpacking the mysteries of Dean’s sleep schedule, a California town called “Chowchilla” and the US Goverment report on UFOs. The subject of paranoia gets get a deep dive analysis. Another of Dean's favorite episodes of "The X-Files" gets revealed. HBO's "Ma...

Original Date: November 17, 2008 Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness are live from the set of Rough Hustle, a feature film co-starring Dean. They interview the writer-director, the executive producer and they discuss the joys of ’80’s video game Galaga!

Original Air Date: Monday 31 May, 9 pm Eastern Description: Phil is in Turlock. Dean is “Motor City adjacent”. Special guest Page Branson is in Baltimore. Between the three of them, they have a wide array of topics covered: Memorial Day, the Tulsa Race Massacre, Amazon’s purchase of MGM, the deaths of beloved actor Gavin MacLeod and singing star B.J. Thomas, the forthcoming declassification of gov...

Original Air Date: Monday 24 May, 9 pm Eastern Description: Is Dean Haglund embracing his madness with a new sleep schedule? And what is his favorite episode of “The X-Files”? These are but two of the questions asked and answered on this week’s show, which also features celebrations of the great comedian (and comedy writer) Paul Mooney and the great comic actor (and provocateur) Charles Grodin. Ph...

Original Date: November 2, 2008 Phil may be deeply ensconced in the woods of Vermont and Dean may be shooting a movie this week, but neither of those things can keep us from bringing you a brand new show! Long time listeners (like Erynn) have been clamoring for another one of Dean and Phil’s special Top Ten shows. This time, Dean and Phil countdown their all-time favorite comedians … Hundreds of n...