This week, another “audio collage” of two different conversations recorded at different times, both exploring different facets of comedy. First Dean and Phil convene to compare notes on the new reboot of The Naked Gun – what it did right, what could have been done better and what good things its success (especially with young people) might portend! Another recent release, Riff Raff gets reviewed, and the importance of sketch and improv training for actors gets discussed. Then, your friends in podcasting take a deep dive into The Beatles’ movies directed by Richard Lester: A Hard Day’s Night and Help! A whole lot of deep concepts and legendary cinematic figures get explored as a result! In the final half hour of this epic installment, frequent contributor to the show, and comedy impresario, Marc Hershon and Phil discuss recent, disturbing news from the world of television, before discussing a Marc Maron comedy special, how authenticity might be having a moment, how young people seem to have good B.S. detectors, and several of Marc’s formative comedy influences.

This week, Dean and Phil go deeper into the life and career of the brilliant Tom Lehrer before opening the Chillpak morgue and remembering astronaut Jim Lovell, actor Alfie Wise, WKRP star Loni Anderson, wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan, heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne, and beloved “Cosby Show” star Malcolm-Jamar Warner, in “Celebrity Deaths”. These discussions lead to several unexpected and fascinating topics. After that, Phil describes how the 1980s are alive and well in Montecito, California, sharing stories about Dennis Miller, Christopher Lloyd and Kenny Loggins in the process. Finally, two superhero films receive analysis: Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Dean Haglund turned 60 this past week and on the occasion, Phil Leirness and (friend of show and composer of numerous themes songs) Jon Lawlor met up with Dean via Zoom to discuss the importance of celebrating birthdays. They also celebrated the incredible life and hilarious artistry of the great Tom Lehrer. This led into a discussion of the gents’ all time biggest comedy influences. Finally, they discussed the fact that two of the films hailed as the best of 2025 both deal with recovery from sexual trauma and why that might make sense for where we are as a culture right now. Afterwards, Lily Holleman joined the festivities to go in-depth with Phil about one of those two films.

Because your friends in podcasting really wanted to take a much-needed week off, they pre-recorded this week’s show in two parts. One part involves Dean and Phil continuing their ongoing reappraisal of the “Mission: Impossible” films, as they debate the merits of the most successful (and critically acclaimed) installment – Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The other part was recorded with good pal Jon Lawlor during their weekly discussion of “The Art Life”. The themes they explore involve the definitions of “courage”, “decorate” and answering the question, “what’s missing?” Music, bravery, intimacy, cancer, dog sweaters, and the “Star Trek” episode “Spectre of the Gun” are just some of the topics discussed. The show ends in a cliffhanger mystery! The show BEGINS with a question to you (yes, YOU!), our dear listeners, about the future form of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

It’s been a while since Phil brought out the ol’ Chillpak soapbox, but on this week’s show, it comes in handy as Dean and Phil delve into the huge show biz news in “The Explanation of the Week” involving late night shows, corporate mergers, bribery, evangelical Christianity, and Stephen Colbert. In “What We’re Reading” the teachings of Taoist philosophy go into the spotlight. The first two episodes of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season 3 get reviewed and Phil defends the series from some recent criticisms about the show “not being about anything”. Then TV mysteries “The Residence” and “Poker Face” get discussed before the 1965 big-screen Agatha Christie-adapted mystery Ten Little Indians and 2024 Cannes winner for Best Director, Grand Tour, get reviewed.

Are Dean and Phil filled with the spirit of the holiday season? This week, we will all find out! They certainly are immersed in the spirit of the Hollywood Awards Season and they discuss the top ten films according to critics, and delve into the top films and performances according to the Golden Globes. They do deep dive analyses of two films – one current award hopeful, and one all-time classic from a true giant of cinema. Then, in the return of “Celebrity Deaths”, a world-famous mentalist, and a big-screen comedy hit-maker get remembered.

Dean flies into Los Angeles. Phil picks him up at LAX. You get into the back seat. Highway adventures and high fidelity hijinks ensue! The first two-thirds of this week’s show are recorded during Dean & Phil’s drive to downtown L.A. as they discuss Dean’s upcoming two-man improv show, his future performing plans, his prolific productivity as a fine artist, how his life would be different if he still lived in Los Angeles, raunchy historic romance novels, the origins of Vaudeville, and more. After a short musical interlude, the conversation continues from “high atop the historic core of downtown Los Angeles” in the “art deco masterpiece that IS the Eastern-Columbia Building”. The final third of the show touches on such topics as the aurora borealis, Dean’s upcoming European steampunk wedding, and the influence of the great British director Michael Powell on the life and work of Martin Scorsese. Finally, in “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil celebrate the brilliance of Quincy Jones. There are a couple great Frank Sinatra stories to boot!

Dean is back from Japan. He will speak about his trip on this week’s show. Phil is grieving the death of his sister. He has some thoughts about her and about grief and about two wishes he has that he will share. If you would like to read about Phil’s sister, he included a tribute to her influence on him in “Haunted”, the most recent essay he published for his The Voice of Los Feliz Substack. Dean and Phil will discuss a wild grab bag of other topics as well, including the city of Glendale, California, improv comedy shows, the ongoing brilliance of “The Simpsons” and the enduring (and growing?) legacy of the British filmmaking team The Archers (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger). Finally, a lightning round of quizzes for Dean will comprise this week’s “Celebrity Deaths”.

On Halloween in the USA (November 1 in Japan), Phil and Dean recorded this week’s show via zoom for a far out and far east installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. In it, you will hear accounts of Dean’s adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun. You will also hear the sad tale of Phil’s sister, and Phil’s full report on the big live show he hosted, and the show he was performing in that night. There will be deep dive discussions of several films, including two by director Brian G. Hutton and two somewhat overlooked horror films. The importance of Halloween as a time to discover, or re-discover unfairly maligned or outright ignored genre films gets celebrated as well. Finally, great stars Kris Kristofferson and Teri Garr, and legendary “Star Trek” writer, producer and show-runner Jeri Taylor get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

It’s a Labor Day edition of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour and Dean and Phil regale with tales of the labor they had to put into Labor Day Weekend, and discuss the history of the day itself. Phil rants about the truncating of summer before he and Dean revisit the following topics from last week: Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s 11th hour bid to take over Paramount, the cinematic legacy of the great leading man Alain Delon, and the nonlinear nature of Strange Darling. Many classic and recent films get appraised, including the Ryan Reynolds-starring If and the 2014 indie neo-noir Man From Reno. On the small screen, the new season of “Only Murders in the Building”, the third season of “Slow Horses” and the rookie season of “Bad Monkey” all get discussed, as does the literary voice of author Carl Hiaasen. All that plus, Phil reveals some very interesting tidbits about his essays and podcasts at “The Voice of Los Feliz”.