Dean and Phil knew they were going to be celebrating the career of the great actor and star James Caan on this week’s show and then the floodgates opened, with many beloved character actors exiting the stage, so after a brief and hilarious cold open, Season 3 Episode 23 begins with “Celebrity Deaths”. Then, the whole concept of “celebration” as a lost “art” gets explored, before your friends in podcasting use it as a springboard to discuss several current television series and a handful of truly brilliant performances. The big screen will not be ignored either, as the cinematic output of Edgar Wright gets examined through the prism of his recent ghost story (Last Night in Soho) and a baseball comedy classic from the 1970s gets revisited.

After a week of travel and creative work, Phil is back in Turlock and ready to discuss both with Dean! Phil then asks Dean about one of Dean’s all-time favorite movie directors. This leads into a discussion of two great movies, and the desperate plight of movie theaters in the wake of both the pandemic and the overturning of the Paramount Consent Decrees. From there, Dean and Phil shift gears to discuss the recent Emmy nominations for Best Drama Series, and at least one really fun new television series on HBO. Of course, there are also “Celebrity Deaths” wherein two great character actors, one chart-topping pianist, a legendary ballerina, and a jazz great all get remembered.