The Flopcast

This week we have three concert reports from three different states: First we creep up to Portland, Maine in search of lobsters and They Might Be Giants. Then we find two of our favorite beverages and/or bands, cider and Petty Morals, in spooky Salem, Massachusetts. And finally, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, we are the warriors, thanks to Patty Smyth and Scandal. Also: The quickest Avengers: In...

This is what happens when Kornflake chooses the subject for our Top 4 1/2 List: In honor of Cinco de Mayo (or our superior version, Cinco de Pie-o), the subject is... five. Yes, we're counting down "five" things... four and a half of them. The list includes music (Ben Folds Five was an easy pick), cartoons, comic book villains, Ally Sheedy's favorite robot, and a couple of really weird ones. (But...

Grab a bowl of Frankenberry, because we're flashing back to Arisia (our favorite local science fiction convention), where Kevin moderated a panel called "Cereal and Cartoons: Saturday Mornings Revisited"! Joining Kevin on the panel were filmmaker Kevin Cafferty, Andy Hicks (of the Coal Hill A/V Club podcast), and Karen (of the Foxes in the Hen House podcast)! Among the topics discussed: The Superf...

It's a quick show this week, but we still knock out three classic Flopcast segments for you, right before our big nap. In Chickens in the News, a rubber chicken museum is coming to Seattle (compliments of the mad geniuses at Archie McPhee), and yeah, we're sort of freaking out. Then in our Pudding Pages segment, we remember Liquid Paper, because why use autocorrect when you can clumsily paint over...

The stupid snow is melting, and we're starting to leave the house again, so we have a trio of concert reports for you this week. First, just ahead of their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Bon Jovi came to Boston to see and/or rock a million faces, including ours. (But we're even bigger fans of the opening band: our local power pop heroes, Sidewalk Driver.) Next was Juliana Hatfield, celebrat...

Join us as we flop back 42 years and flip through a 1976 issue of Dynamite! This classic magazine for kids was a staple of school book clubs from the mid-70s through the early 90s, and we recently acquired a big stupid stack of them. For this week's show, we selected an issue of Dynamite with Fonzie on the cover, because of course we did. Inside we found a Henry Winkler interview (obviously), as w...

It's the long-awaited return of a classic Flopcast segment, the Top 4 1/2 List! And it's an extra-stupid one, because the subject is simply... Peter. Yeah, we're listing our favorite Peters from music (yikes, lots of musicians are named Peter), sitcoms (don't play ball in the house, Peter), cartoons (including a seasonally appropriate Rankin Bass special), and peanut butter brands (hint: not Skipp...

While Kornflake was away at MarsCon, Kevin was busy with silly things too. One of our comedy music heroes, "Weird Al" Yankovic, brought his "Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour" to Boston for two shows in the same day... and Kevin showed up for both of them. This long weird day also included stand-up from Emo Philips, a round of Weird Al Jeopardy, a backstage meet and greet, and a...

Despite a delightful series of weather-related delays and flight cancellations, Kornflake has returned from Minnesota with a full report on MarsCon! It's one of our very favorite conventions, thanks to its Dementia Track of comedy music concerts, under the direction of our pal the great Luke Ski. Performers this year included Luke, Donita Smith, Marc with a C, StarF and Mattari 2600, brentalfloss,...

It's another movie-themed show, because Kornflake finally saw the latest Star Wars movie, just in time for actor John Boyega's birthday. (You know John. He plays Finn, the Stormtrooper with a heart of gold.) We also discuss Kornflake's January movie (for each month of 2018, she is watching a classic movie she should have seen years ago), Labyrinth! (Come on, it's Bowie and Muppets. Can't go wrong....

The Mayor of Chickentown returns with a full report from the big Los Angeles Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One! Featuring: Doctor Who actors, writers, producers, podcasters, and puppeteers! Also featuring: Panels (the Mayor participated in several), costumers (including Yip-Yips, arguably not part of official Doctor Who canon), the Master (Doctor Who AND Lee Van Cleef versions), and our beloved...

This week we open our long-neglected Flopcast Mailbag and find a Top 4 1/2 List of video games featuring chickens! It's a nice bizarre list, and the games are mostly new to us (since we stopped paying attention to anything after the 80s). But we were inspired to break out our old Atari 2600 and fire up a classic chicken game! So if you've always dreamed of listening to us play Freeway by Activisio...

Join us as Kornflake prepares for MarsCon (March 2-4 in Bloomington, Minnesota)! Many friends of the Flopcast from the comedy music scene will be there too! The MarsCon Dementia Track will feature performances by the great Luke Ski, Power Salad, Insane Ian, Devo Spice, TV's Kyle and Lindzilla, the Library Bards, Marc With a C, brentalfloss (your Music Guest of Honor), and many more. And be sure to...

It's World Hippo Day, and we're always up for a high-stakes round of Hungry Hungry Hippos... but we're still terrified by Henrietta from the New Zoo Revue. Meanwhile in this week's Chickens in the News, a weird bird known as the Bin Chicken emerges as a contender for Australia's Bird of the Year. (We assume Olivia Newton-John masterminded this whole operation.) And we also have a "What's in the Ba...

Join us as we celebrate 300 episodes of The Flopcast! Yes, it's been 300 long weeks of giggling about stupid things for your amusement. (And yes, this has all been part of our court-ordered community service. Yikes, that judge was merciless.) So this week Kornflake has 300 other podcasts to recommend (don't worry, she moves quickly), while Kevin flips through a stack of comic books to see how Supe...

Once again, it's time for our annual memorial show, so we're looking back on everyone we lost in 2017, from the world of pop culture and beyond. (And once again, it's our longest Flopcast ever! We just can't help it.) Our list includes familiar old favorites from TV, movies, and music (such as Adam West, June Foray, Mary Tyler Moore, Tom Petty, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Don Rickles, David Cassidy,...

Kevin, Kornflake, and the Mayor of Chickentown have a full report on our weekend at "New England's largest and most diverse science fiction and fantasy convention," Arisia! Including: Kevin's panels on Riverdale and Saturday morning TV (yes, Robbie Rist was mentioned, more than once), keytar-based synthrock (and a Taylor Dayne cover!) from Minusworld, a gender-swapped Star Trek show from the Post-...

We're creeping around a convention in Boston right now (find us at Arisia!), but we saved something special for this week's show, from a whole different convention! It's a panel from the American Sci-Fi Classics track at DragonCon 2017! Join Kevin along with Scott Viguié, Anthony Taylor, and Andrew Gaska, as they discuss... Sci-Fi TV 1977! Our science fiction options were limited back in the disco...

We're in the middle of our 1990s-themed shows, so it's finally time to play the 90s Movie Game! (You may recall that we invented this goofy game last year. Check out Flopcast episodes 258 and 261 for the 80s and 70s versions.) The wacky premise is: For each year of the 1990s, we try to guess each other's favorite movie, points are awarded, and dreams of victory are crushed. For the 90s version, yo...

Why, it's New Year's Eve, so Kevin and Kornflake grab some coffee (that most festive of beverages) and look back at 2017. 'Twas a horrifying year overall (did you notice?), but we got through it together, and managed to have some fun here on our goofy little show. Our convention schedule was busy this year; highlights included our meeting with Judy Tenuta, our defense of Howard the Duck, and our f...

It's a quick show this holiday week, so you'll have plenty of time to dedicate to avoiding your family. But in the spirit of the season, we play a round of Figgy Pudding Pages, and discuss if kids prefer cool electronic games or weird hair appliances for Christmas. Also: A Flopcast correspondent reports live from Florida with a very festive Chickens in the News update. Plus: More 90s fun with MTV'...

Our goofy holiday festivities continue with a special visit from the Mayor of Chickentown! And the Mayor is here to present a Top 4 1/2 List of Mayors! Specifically, all those wacky mayors from our favorite holiday cartoons! You may recall the mayor from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (who freaked out over Mr. Trundle's broken clock) and the mayor from The Year Without a Santa Claus (who had to...

This week we take a quick look back at some favorite cartoons, and one very memorable sax solo, from 1992. Also: Kevin returns to Oberon for a Nightmare Before Christmas concert and burlesque show with Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, and Kevin and the Mayor sneak down to Connecticut for another Speak Up storytelling show. And because we were in Connecticut, we have a major update on ou...

It's a holiday spectacular, sort of, but not really! First, Kornflake's 1991 edition of National Whatever Day celebrates the debut of Ren and Stimpy, a show considered quite outrageous in its time. How innocent we were. Kornflake has also made her annual pilgrimage to the lobster trap Christmas tree up in Maine (a weird crustacean-themed holiday tradition, but why not). Meanwhile, Kevin ran around...

Our 1980s-themed shows have ended (but for how long?), and yikes, here come the 1990s. We'll get through this ten-episode descent into madness together, starting this week with a look at the year 1990. Yes, MC Hammer (and his giant pants) ruled the pop charts... but weirder acts like They Might Be Giants and Ed's Redeeming Qualities were around too, and that's what we liked. Meanwhile back here in...