Phil is back from Hawaii and bringing with him observations about how the islands AND America have changed since he last visited the spots he traveled to (24 and 36 years ago respectively). He and Dean bring back “What We’re Reading” after a lengthy absence, and the discussion of books will lead to discussions of comedy, the Golden Age of Radio, watercolor painting and YouTube instructional videos! In “Celebrity Deaths”, an Oscar-nominated star of M*A*S*H, one of the greatest comedy movie directors of all time, and the “Queen of Funk” all get remembered. The show concludes with an analysis of Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild awards. What do the Film winners portend for the forthcoming Oscars, and whom did Phil and Dean vote for in these award categories? All that, plus what non-nominated film might be one of the very best of 2021?

Dean and Phil discuss Martin Luther King Day, share three messages from loyal listeners like you (yes, YOU!), reveal a handful of new nicknames for Phil, and analyze three recent cinematic releases. They also celebrate the lives and legacies of several music legends, a couple of beloved sitcom stars, and a true Hollywood icon.

After a funny cold open where Dean tells about another of his haunted house adventures, Dean and Phil kick off this week’s show by sharing what they are thankful for during this Thanksgiving week, Dean battling Covid-19, Phil reflecting on his mother’s death two years ago. The career of Dean Martin, his work with Jerry Lewis, and a terrific TCM documentary “Dean Martin: King of Cool” all get discussed. A great jazz film from the 1980s, Round Midnight, and the “sacred” aspect of cinema get celebrated. The box office success of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and No Time to Die get analyzed through a very optimistic lens. In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean’s love of funk gets exposed, as two great funk stars get remembered, along with a star of HBO’s “Oz”. And speaking of HBO, Dean and Phil tease an upcoming discussion about HBO’s “Succession” and about Will Ferrell’s considerable behind-the-scenes clout in Hollywood.

Last week, Dean and Phil ran out of time while discussing a vampire show from Norway that Dean has discovered and is enjoying. They kept recording, however, so this week’s show starts (as a cold open!) with that brief and hilarious discussion. Once the show proper starts, your friends in podcasting send love and best wishes to a dear friend who is having surgery this week. Then, they leap into discussions of the latest show business news, including the IATSE strike authorization vote that might lead to the halt of most television and film production, the resolution of Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney, James Bond saving the global box office, Venom: Let There Be Carnage setting the domestic box office ablaze, and the #1 worldwide box office hit of 2021 that neither Dean nor Phil have seen or even heard of! Phil and Dean then discuss Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and the importance of taking the time to do “nothing”, and what “Loki” season 1 might be telling us about the existence of multiverses. Finally, Dean and Phil celebrate the lives of a pioneer of Japanese anime, one of the best funk and soul bandleaders of all time, a character actor beloved on both the small and big screen, a groundbreaking singer-turned-activist, and two very popular comedians.

As they begin their 14th year of changing the way you listen to the internet, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness have never seen times quite like these. As if shelter-in-place quarantines and global pandemics weren’t enough, now we’ve got murder hornets?! This week, your friends in podcasting will try to make sense of both, while also remembering several of the notable people who died this past week. They will celebrate one of the women upon whom A League of the Their Own was based, a beloved character actor from TV’s “Scrubs”, a golden age of TV’s private eye sidekick, a legendary poet who helped launch the counterculture beat generation, and one of the truly indelible soul voices of the 1970’s. In fact, it’s been a particularly troubling time for lovers of music, and in “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil will also remember a Was (Not Was) vocalist, a co-founder of Kraftwerk, a chart-topping Jamaican ska singer, one of the true fathers of rock n’ roll, a great Mexican protest singer, and an illusionist who headlined one of the most successful shows in the history of Los Vegas. Dean will also provide an update on his long-awaited graphic novel, and he and Phil will compare notes on all the movies – new and old, foreign and domestic – they have been devouring during lockdown, including the Back to the Future movies, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, film noirs (films noir?!), and a couple Japanese classics, as well as a new Netflix series Dean is “maybe” finding interesting. Irreverent, insightful, and insightful, it’s what long-time listeners have come to expect!