Rabbit, Rabbit! Welcome to May and welcome to the final show of year 15 of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour where Dean and Phil get the ball rolling by discussing the obituary fictional character Dame Edna wrote for her creator prior to his death. Phil remembers the legendary playwright Robert Patrick and he and Dean ponder the life – not the legacy – of the woman who falsely accused Emmett Till. Then, in “Celebrity Deaths”, the towering artistry and humanity of Harry Belafonte gets discussed, as does Belafonte’s friendship with Sidney Poitier. The latest in the pending Writer’s Strike gets analyzed. Facts surrounding three movies discussed last week get revealed, the 1996 classic Irma Vep starring the incomparable Maggie Cheung gets revisited, and the countdown to the end of Netflix results in analysis of both Sean Baker’s Red Rocket and Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon. Finally, the concluding seasons of “Succession” and “Barry” get hailed.

This week’s show begins with plenty of mystery as Phil riddles Dean about a hidden Japanese teahouse and a vintage movie ad from the late 1970s! Then, Dean and Phil tackle a wide array of topics including a commemoration of Japanese internment, the latest lawsuit involving Alec Baldwin and Phil’s encounter with Malcolm McDowell. In “Celebrity Deaths” the brilliant comedic character actor Barry Humphries and the accomplished classical musician-turned-journalist/memoirist Blair Tindall get remembered. Haven’t heard of them? Trust us, you know their work! Finally, Dean and Phil have three movie recommendations, including new films from China and Korea, and an unearthed and restored excellent film noir from Argentina.

Dean is back from the UK and reports on his travels. Phil has been availing himself of classic movies and has thoughts on an indie gem from the 1980s, a mind-bending oddity from Joseph Losey, and a 1960 epic about the founding of Israel. The episodic series “Space Force”, “Barry” season 3, “Our Flag Means Death”, “Hacks” season 2, “The Book of Boba Fett”, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and season 2 of “The Mandalorian” get discussed. Four giants of the music industry and 3 beloved character actors get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Finally, Dean and Phil explain why Tom Cruise was probably the perfect person to produce and star in a brilliant sequel 36 years after the original, and Phil shares some inspiring words relating to Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

This weekend, Dean and Phil got together in-person on the “American Riviera” for a fascinating discussion inspired by a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU!). The conversation involves the importance of awards not only recognizing and rewarding great work, but also rewarding the great stories surrounding the making of that work! Somehow that inspires Phil to reappraise the entire filmography of James Mason. That great Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot, gets more time in the spotlight, as Dean and Phil take a little more time giving both a doff of the cap and a wag of the finger to Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile and Phil, who took the time during the week to unearth the final Peter Ustinov performance as Agatha Christie’s protagonist, has some thoughts about Appointment with Death from the infamous Cannon Film Group. Finally, in a riff on their usual “Celebrity Deaths” section, Dean and Phil discuss three non-celebrity friends who died recently.

The show begins this week with a lot of questions for Dean. What is Sci-Fi Valley Con? Who is Julian? There is/was a TV show called “Supernatural”? Is Detroit really Canada’s Tijuana? And a listener wants to know if Dean got bit by a monkey on “The Lone Gunmen”! You will learn the answers to all these and many more, including what Dean and Phil think of the controversy surrounding Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix special. You will also learn about one of the greatest voices in comedy, about perhaps the greatest Hammond organist of all time, and about one of the most groundbreaking indie filmmakers of all time in “Celebrity Deaths”. After the break, Dean and Phil offer analysis on the new James Bond film’s box office performance in the USA and put that performance into historic context. They will do the same with the film’s quality. Finally, they will reveal what upcoming movies might get them to go back into a movie theater in the coming weeks.

After two weeks of special “theme” shows, your friends in podcasting return to what they do best this week: Making sense of a world gone wild! From absurdities to atrocities, from freedom of speech to bad behavior, from consciousness to conspiracy theories, Dean and Phil will offer up a hearty and healthy helping of insight, irreverence and inspiration. Then, in “Celebrity Deaths”, they will remember a prolific movie director, a British Invasion star, a World War II hero, the last Civil War widow, a “Charlie’s Angel”, a castaway on “Gilligan’s Island”, a break-dancing superstar, a controversial educator immortalized on film, a pioneer of Space Age style design, and the father of fiber optics. Finally, Dean and Phil celebrate one of the best miniseries of all time before celebrating that at long last, English-speaking viewers outside the USA can enjoy their disturbing, dark comedy feature film The Lady Killers! 

 

From the inner space of quiet, self-quarantine lockdowns, to the outer space of “Star Trek: Picard”, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness take you on quite the journey this week! It starts with their latest observations about themselves and others in the wake of another week of isolation. Sadness, quiet and dehumanization are on the thematic menu! They then compare notes on their respective Easter celebrations, which leads to a discussion of a couple of classic musicals: 1934’s Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers vehicle The Gay Divorcee and 1948’s seasonal staple Easter Parade, starring Astaire and Judy Garland. The recent, modern classic, Uncut Gems gets championed by Phil, who tries to get Dean to overcome his trepidation surrounding Adam Sandler performances (and yet, Dean once championed You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, so go figure!). The second half of the show consists of Dean and Phil comparing the years in cinema 1973 and 1974, discussing all the notable films from those two halcyon years, in hopes of determining which year might challenge 1962 as the greatest year in cinema. Finally, your friends in podcasting beam up to the La Sirena to discuss and debate what went right and what went wrong in season one of “Star Trek: Picard”, a show so successful that a big-screen movie version is already in the planning stages.

Another big week here at YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour we welcome our first guest of 2020! Phil interviews the wonderful Annette Andre, a natural born performer who worked as a dancer, singer, and actress in radio, theatre, television and film in Australia, Europe, the UK and Hollywood. She performed opposite the likes of Peter Graves, Bob Hope, Benny Hill, Michael Crawford, Buster Keaton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris. She witnessed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s romance firsthand on the set of Cleopatra. She stood toe to toe with the mercurial Patrick McGoohan on “The Prisoner”. She picknicked with Sammy Davis, Jr. She became not only a fixture on British Television, appearing on such shows as “The Saint” and “The Avengers” and her own “Randall and Hopkirk Deceased”, but was immortalized in photographs as one of the “Birds of Britain” during the height of the swinging 60’s! She is also the author of the spellbinding memoir Where Have I Been All My Life? The bad news is that the heater in the historic Ranger House where Phil interviewed Annette makes a lot of noise during the show! The good news (at least for listeners here in the USA) is a very special offer described during the show (click on Annette’s book title in this episode description to take advantage of the offer)!

As loyal listeners know, Phil darn near went blind. As a result, he and Dean have not discussed books in a long time! Well, Phil’s eyesight is back, thank you very much, and so is “What We’re Reading” on this week’s show! In fact, Phil’s selection ties in very much to TWO conversations Dean and Phil will have this week. One about Buster Keaton’s “The General” (which will re-visit last week’s theme of “failure”). The other about what television your friends in podcasting are watching right now. Comedy, drama, mystery and the paranormal are all on the small screen menu! And before your friends in podcasting depart from the small screen, they discuss the current SNL controversy surrounding the firing of a recently-hired performer. 

Dean Haglund spent part of his birthday recording this episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour and it turns out to be a very special, very personal installment for your friends in podcasting. Sure, they talk about a whole bunch of movies, including Mission: Impossible – FalloutHotel ArtemisSorry to Bother YouEat Me and The Breaker Upperers, and they celebrate John Waters’ Hairspray at 30. Of course, they also discuss the latest news regarding the James Gunn and Chris Hardwick controversies and weigh in on the ramifications surrounding the accusations leveled at longtime CBS head honcho Les Moonves. All that plus disturbing news surrounding two L.A. icons and the show biz disruptor that is (was?) MoviePass. What makes the episode truly unforgettable and personal, however, will have to remain a secret to all but those who listen to this week’s show. Which you can do NOW wherever good podcasts can be found!