In the first half of this week’s show, Dean and Phil discuss the latest controversial news surround filmmakers Joss Whedon and Woody Allen and ask how do we separate the art from the artist? And should we? After that, a Motown great, a rap great, the Godfather of salsa, a groundbreaking singer and DJ, and a pioneer of jazz fusion all get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. The second half of the show is part 2 of the roundtable discussion that began last week, where special guests Marc Hershon and Suli McCullough compare notes with Dean about pursuing careers in comedy. On this week’s agenda are the topics of the pandemic and how it has and will change professional comedy, and the importance of pain in comedy.

This week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is part 1 of a 2 part special episode as Suli McCullough and Marc Hershon return to the show to participate in a panel discussion with Dean, moderated by Phil! Dean, is, of course, known the world over for “The X-Files” and “The Lone Gunmen”. In addition to his many and varied pursuits, he is a veteran of the Vancouver Theatre Sports League, is a renowned improv comic, and has toured the world with his one man improv comedy shows. Marc is a teacher of improv comedy, he has run comedy clubs, he is the creator “Succotash”, the now long-running Comedy Soundcast Soundcast, he has reviewed comedy podcasts for both the Huffington Post and Splitsider, he is the writer of a trio of made-for-TV movies, he is the co-author of “I Hate People” (the guide for getting along in the workplace), and he’s the award-winning editorial cartoonist for the Half Moon Bay Review. Suli has been a stand-up comedian for more than 30 years. As an actor, he has appeared in such movies as the popular spoof Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood and on television in a recurring role on “The Jamie Foxx Show”. He has both written and produced for television, boasting such behind-the-scenes credits as “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, ESPN’s “ESPY” Awards, “Lopez Tonight”, the MTV Music Awards, the BET Awards, “Last Comic Standing” and “Def Comedy Jam”. He recently appeared discussing the legacy and influence of Garry Shandling in the Emmy winning documentary, “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and he produced the documentary feature film about stand-up, Dying Laughing. In part 1, the three men field questions about, and compare notes on, pursuing careers in comedy. They discuss their influences, and reveal when it was that they knew comedy was the life for them!

Pop quiz: What do an Oscar-winning writer-editor, four dead actors, the story of how William Shatner became a star, 3 hilarious movie ads from the 1980s, anti-trust lawsuits pitting writers against actors, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, a graphic novel, and the brother of presidential assassin James Wilkes Booth have in common? They are all a part of this week’s episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

From the ridiculous to the sublime, from the heartfelt to the hilarious, prepare to point the compass of your brain to a journey on the map of the entire infinite during this week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! Phil shares heartfelt thoughts about “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Discovery” and then, he and Dean have a ball unpacking the desire on the part of an Oklahoma Lawmaker to declare a “Bigfoot hunting season” in his state! Two of the greatest actresses of all time get celebrated, as Phil shares touching remembrances of Cicely Tyson and hilarious first-hand accounts of Cloris Leachman. Dean has championed filmmaker Christopher Nolan for conveying different perceptions of time before, and longtime listeners of this show will remember that the very first time Dean and Phil welcomed a guest, it was the late, great Philip Newby who wanted to discuss how time gets depicted in movies. So be warned, as Dean and Phil discuss 2020’s Tenet, it gets mind-blowing! And when they get into celebrating one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most underrated masterpieces, the show becomes a master class on the subjects of suspense and tension!

This week’s episode is a grab bag of what you’ve come to expect from YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. A broadcasting legend, perhaps the greatest record producer ever (though also a convicted murderer), a chart-topping early rock and roll star, and many others get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Phil and Dean discuss a review given to their film The Lady Killers (now available to rent or to own everywhere in the world). Phil once again quizzes Dean on movie ads from the 80s and 90s before they analyze the latest Covid-19 fallout to theatrical movie releases and to theaters themselves. Then, Phil regales with details of his “Drive-In Movie Adventure”, Dean reviews Wonder Woman 1984, and your friends in podcasting close with “What We’re Reading”, including an hilarious and disturbingly relevant book from 15 years ago that arrived to Phil by mistake!

This week’s show gets started with Dean providing an update on his graphic novel and a review of “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 3. Phil then shares a message from a loyal listener about their film The Truth is Out There. This leads to further discussion about such topics as conspiracy theories, cults, fear, how to recognize the truth, and “alienation of affection”. In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil remember one of the greatest writers of television mysteries and an iconic voice of the British Invasion. Dean and Phil share a new review of their dark comedy feature film The Lady Killers and celebrate the fact that now everyone in the world can see it! Finally, a whole bunch of movies get discussed and reviewed, including Spike Lee’s critically-acclaimed Da 5 Bloods, Kelly Reichardt’s award-winning First Cow and a disappointing Tom Hanks western from director Paul Greengrass. Graphic novels, sci-fi TV, great new movies, conspiracy theories, celebrity deaths and more, all in one hour!

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! 

 

Because the only way to truly let go is through gratitude, Dean and Phil spend this week’s show celebrating the Best of 2020! From space exploration to snail mail, from nanotechnology to basketball, from ice cream to the Criterion Collection, from television series you can stream to rooms that produce steam it’s an eclectic mix of items that get celebrated and discussed. Frequently hilarious, often thought-provoking, and even inspiring, it’s YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour wishing you a healthy and prosperous 2021!

Listeners of this show know that Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness love to read, and that includes poetry. Yet, in all the years YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour has been “changing the way people listen to the internet”, Dean and Phil have never dedicated an entire episode to discussing a particular poet’s work. Until now … All That Remains is a powerful, evocative new book of poetry by Betsy Holleman Burke, and it announces the arrival of an indelible voice onto the scene. Betsy joins Phil to discuss the book, its themes and the “moment” poetry seems to be having now. Dean then takes a deep dive into two of the book’s more “stand-alone” poems. Quite unexpectedly, listeners will learn a few new things about Dean, himself! You can learn more about All That Remains and its author at searchingforhummingbirds.com. Have a happy and safe New Year, everybody!

 

With special “theme” shows planned to ring out 2020 and ring in 2021, this week’s show will be the last of Dean and Phil’s usual irreverent and insightful show biz grab bags for a few weeks! In it, they celebrate the lives of two Broadway legends, an accomplished New Orleans-based actress, and a “Star Wars” icon. They discuss some of their favorite Christmas movies and share what movies they have gravitated towards this holiday season. They offer up a few holiday-themed movie print ads in what has become a weekly tradition. They discuss why Hitchcockian cinema (i.e. Hitchock-like movies directed by people other than Hitchcock) might have had its peak in the 1970s. They weigh in on Tom Cruise’s Covid-19 safety protocol rant. All that, plus, “The Mandalorian”, “Star Trek: Discovery”, “The Boys” and John Cassavetes!