The Flopcast

This week we're starting with even more TV talk, as Kornflake is reunited with her long lost Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Meanwhile Kevin recounts what is probably, hopefully, the most bizarre episode of The Love Boat ever. And you'd better believe Janet Jackson and a robot duplicate of Isaac the bartender were involved, just like in your dreams. All part of the fun of being trapped in the house. And...

In these weird scary times, we're keeping the Flopcast short, simple, and (hopefully) silly, as we review our latest trapped-in-the-house activities. Kornflake has been checking out music from Vance Gilbert, Jim Infantino, They Might Be Giants, and Carbon Leaf... and she also invented a goofy potato game. Meanwhile Kevin just started watching The Mandalorian and rewatching Ozark, when he's not dis...

We're still in social distancing mode here in Chickentown, of course, as we cross one cancelled event after another off the stupid calendar. (Specifically, Pee Wee Herman and Diane Birch are keeping their distance from us this week.) But that means more TV talk (Lost in Space, Shrill, Picard, Taskmaster, and the upcoming cartoon Solar Opposites) and even more online concerts (Taylor Dayne is telli...

Remember what the world was like two weeks ago? Yeah, things have changed. But that's when Kevin took a quick trip to Las Vegas to visit our dear friends Brittany and Martha of Good Enough Cosplay! So they're on the show this week, discussing murderers and ice cream bears, strippers and showers, turkeys and taxes, Black Widow and Hawkeye... and their upcoming podcast: But First, Let's Talk Nerdy....

Kornflake has returned from Minnesota with a full report on MarsCon, home of our beloved Dementia Track of comedy music performances! And this was the busiest MarsCon ever for Kornflake! In addition to her regular Dementia Water Aerobics classes (keeping nerds in shape and exhausted since 2013), she (along with Jacob Haller and Doornail) was scheduled for her own comedy music concert! And... Kornf...

Kevin and the Mayor conclude their look back at the TV shows that debuted in 1980! It was the year of Tom Selleck in Hawaii and Tom Hanks in drag. Deputy Enos left Hazzard County for Los Angeles. The biggest stars in country music shared a stage with the Krofft puppets. Future stars like Martin Short and Linda Hamilton popped up in shows nobody remembers. (Our apologies to all you diehard fans of...

While Kornflake is off entertaining the nerds of Minnesota at MarsCon, Kevin and the Mayor discuss obscure TV shows from forty years ago. (We're quite timely around here.) Specifically we're looking at shows that debuted in the year 1980. And it's a weird list. Weirder than you think. Including: Spinoffs of 70s hits that flopped in the 80s (Flo, Sanford, Beyond Westworld, Galactica 1980), a pair o...

Time to finish what we started (and instantly regretted) last week: A ridiculous Flopcast tournament of 1980s pop stars, as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of USA for Africa and "We Are the World." We're still picking the players and the events at random, so anything could happen. Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon in a pie-eating contest? Perhaps. Smokey Robinson and the Pointer Sisters playing Rock...

Remember when we made all the Rankin/Bass holiday cartoon characters compete in a bizarre tournament of our own design? Wasn't that fun? And stupid? Well, grab a beverage and place your bets, because we're trying that again. This time we're celebrating the 35th anniversary of USA for Africa and "We Are the World," by making the greatest pop stars of the 1980s do battle in a series of silly competi...

A couple of important and/or ridiculous updates in this quick little show... starting with a MarsCon update from Kornflake! (Get ready, geeks of Minnesota. In less than a month, Kornflake is bringing you a new album, a concert performance, and Dementia Water Aerobics...) Then we have a follow-up Chickens in the News report, with more details on the giant chicken topiary under construction in Fitzg...

It's Oscar season, and we don't care about the Oscars, but it's an excuse for the Mayor of Chickentown to drop by and talk about the movies. However, we're not really looking at the movies themselves; instead we're discussing the experience of going to movie theaters. (It's something we don't do much these days, unless Black Widow or Chewbacca is involved.) Including: cheap second-run theaters of...

Live from the horrifyingly cold mid-January Boston waterfront, it's our annual report on our favorite local science fiction/fantasy convention, Arisia! Kevin was locked in for all four days of Arisia, moderating discussion panels, meeting the awesome costumed people, and just observing all the glorious geekery. Meanwhile Kornflake almost couldn't make it, but still managed to arrive for a surprise...

Okay, let's wrap up our tribute to the pop culture legends we lost in 2019. (We've been drinking so many shots in their memory that we're almost out of coffee. And that frightens us.) Part 2 includes more movie stars (Peter Fonda, Sid Haig, Danny Aiello), sitcom stars (Valerie Harper, Bill Macy, Philip McKeon), rock stars (Eddie Money, Ric Ocasek, Ginger Baker), and, uh, Star Trek stars (DC Fontan...

You know we do this every year... yes, it's the first of our two-part look back at all the pop culture legends we lost in 2019. And yeah, a couple of our favorite Peters (Tork and Mayhew) are on this year's list, along with stars from TV (Tim Conway, Katherine Helmond, Luke Perry), movies (Albert Finney, Rutger Hauer, Doris Day), music (James Ingram, Leon Redbone, Dr. John), wrestling (KING KONG B...

Yes yes yes, it's our 400th episode! To celebrate, we're drinking lots of black coffee. (Hey, it worked for the first 399 shows.) We're also reviewing how we spent the stupid holidays, including a couple of festive movies (Knives Out and the new Star Wars, which needed more Bea Arthur), a couple of festive concerts (Dar Williams and Freezepop), and a very Robolar Christmas card. We also have a few...

As we creep up on the end of 2019, Kevin and Kornflake relax and look back on the whole stupid year. We review our Flopcast segments (Capes or Apes!) and guests (Train Talk with Ed!), as well as concerts (Taylor Dayne! TAYLOR DAYNE!), conventions (hey, Arisia returns next month!), and lots more. Plus: National Whatever Day, a new novel from Matthew Dicks, the return of the Kornflake Book Club, a v...

Last week was Part 1 of our bizarre Rankin/Bass tournament, in which characters like Rudolph, Snow Miser, and Burgermeister Meisterburger competed in events like breakdancing and air hockey. The results were surprising, to say the least. This week, eight more Rankin/Bass characters are randomly drawn to do battle in equally ridiculous events. Will Santa Claus and Heat Miser have to play Hungry Hun...

Kevin and Kornflake are taking their obsession with classic Rankin/Bass Christmas cartoons to a ridiculous new level, tournament-style. We're randomly fishing names of Rankin Bass characters out of reindeer-shaped coffee mugs, and determining who would win in various silly events. Who would make a better Lyft driver, Santa or Frosty? What if Heat Miser and Charlie-in-the-Box were in a rap battle?...

Kevin and Kornflake review their Thanksgiving weekends, which involved multiple dinners (Hobbit-style!), a movie trivia game (where the answer is always Footloose), a Sharpie car, concerts from Gustafer Yellowgold and Niki Luparelli, turkey-themed wardrobes, and turkey-themed wardrobe malfunctions. Plus: Happy Birthday to Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers, a ridiculous New Zealand edition of Chickens...

It's a special show to ring in the goofy holidays, featuring our interview with official Rankin/Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt! You know Rankin/Bass. It's the legendary animation studio that produced all those classic holiday shows, starting with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964. Lots more wonderful cartoons followed, including Santa Claus is Comin' To Town (which gave us Burgermeister Meis...

It's a surprise Flopcast recording live from the middle of Super Megafest! (Kornflake wasn't even supposed to be there, so we were all just shocked and delighted.) We discuss our whole silly day at the convention, wandering around eyeballing the celebrity guests, including Spider-Man's Nicholas Hammond, 3rd Rock's French Stewart, MASH's Loretta Swit, The Munsters' Butch Patrick, wrestlers Tony Atl...

We're a few weeks late, thanks to all those weird train-themed shows, but it's finally time for our annual review of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees! The short version: We're happy to see Pat Benatar and Whitney Houston on the list, but in our hearts, we just want everybody to Wang Chung tonight. Come on, Hall of Fame. WANG CHUNG. Also: Kornflake hits the road with attack chickens and atta...

Okay, let's take a break from all that controversial train talk! It's finally time to catch up on some non-train stuff, including: Kornflake's Halloween (featuring a Yip-Yip costume, a giant boot, a Stan Lee pumpkin, and a jug band), Kevin's Halloween (featuring a classy chicken costume, weird movies in Vermont, Swamp Thing artist Stephen Bissette, and a turkey), Calista Flockhart's birthday (one...

This week we're joined again by Ed, longtime friend of The Flopcast, Sponge Awareness Foundation keyboardist, and train expert from the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum! So yeah, that means more nerdy train talk! Learn the shocking truth behind the trains in pop culture classics like Stand By Me, Polar Express, Dumbo, School House Rock, and lots more. Does anyone know what happe...

This week Kevin and Kornflake are joined by special guest Ed, from The Sponge Awareness Foundation! But Ed is not just the other half of Kevin's old comedy band. Ed is also a train expert, and today we're talking trains. HEY, WAIT, COME BACK. This is The Flopcast, so specifically we're talking about trains from old movies, TV shows, and cartoons! Anyone else remember the short-lived 1979 show Supe...