Dean is in Tokyo, but before departing the U.S., he recorded a grand conversation with Phil for this week’s show! Jeremy Saulnier’s Netflix original Rebel Ridge, the comedy Thelma starring June Squibb, the sports-based love triangle Challengers, and the Netflix documentary Will & Harper are just some of the new and recent films they discuss. Then, they take the time to celebrate the lives and legacies of Broadway actor-singer-dancer Adrian Bailey, groundbreaking vocalist-turned-actress Cleo Sylvestre, French-Italian singer (who recorded in 11 different languages) Caterina Valente, bossa nova and samba icon Sergio Mendes, musical star Mitzi Gaynor, and beloved actors (and Eddie Murphy co-stars) John Ashton and John Amos in “Celebrity Deaths”. Finally, friend of show Marc Hershon drops by for his now monthly check-in to discus the latest and greatest in streaming episodic programming (you know, what us older folks might still refer to as “TV shows”!).

This weekend, your friends in podcasting got together on the pool deck of a certain “historic building in downtown Los Angeles” and boy did they have a lot to discuss! The status of downtown, Dean’s travels AND his official “wedding engagement” get covered. The Olympics closing ceremony and Tom Cruise’s role in it get revisited. The “Live Event of the Week” is “Duo it Again” a brilliant and psychedelic game of telephone that is the hottest party you can find on a Tuesday night in Los Angeles. There is movie news involving Joaquin Phoenix doing one of our greatest filmmakers and a maverick indie producer “dirty” and Phil and Dean both have more thoughts about Wolfs losing its wide theatrical release. Casablanca on 4K and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F on Netflix both get reviewed. A whole lot of reference to the great documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself gets made throughout the show. Finally, a groundbreaking comedy radio producer-turned television writer and the peerless Gena Rowlands both get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

After traveling across the country (on Spirit Airlines), Phil has been laid up all week, sick as a dog. Dean has been avoiding the dazzling nighttime Aurora displays put on by the current solar storm. They both have a great deal of show biz news, views and reviews on their minds, however. First off, Dean previews the forthcoming Ryan Coogler-led “X-Files” reboot, hipping us to its premise. Then, he and Phil make sense of the Ryan Gosling-starring The Fall Guy, both appraising its merits and explaining its box office failure. The future of action as a genre on both the big and small screens gets analyzed. Jerry Seinfeld’s utterly silly, possibly sly Unfrosted and the seething reaction to it get dissected. Everybody’ seems to love Netflix’s new series “Baby Reindeer”, except for the possibly defamed subject of it! Dean and Phil come at this one from all angles. Finally, Phil explains what went wrong with Taika Waititi’s recent true-life sports comedy Next Goal Wins and expresses confusion over why Hulu’s “The Bear” is considered a comedy.

This week’s show is a bit of a pastiche, cut together from snippets of different conversations Dean and Phil have had these past couple weeks. So, after a hilarious “audio check” cold open, if you hear references to topics not yet covered, don’t worry, it all weaves together wonderfully by the end in what might just be one of our best shows of the year! Phil discusses the forthcoming Netflix reboot of Beverly Hills Cop and the (unwanted by the producers) role he might play in it, and whether its filming location means he lives closer to Detroit than Dean does! The subject of “soft tissue” and the importance of stretching and yoga get discussed in the wake of Phil learning about what it means to “pop a rib”. The reason firefighters carry axes gets explained. The graphic design creative explosion that was the late 70s and early 80s is the subject of a gallery exhibit at the Pacific Design Center and it leads Dean to reminisce. When he was in London, did Dean experience the magic of the Elizabeth Line? And did he get to England through the worst itinerary ever? And what exactly did he get wrong when describing the Billy Wilder failure Kiss Me Stupid? These questions all get answered and the great improv comic turned successful character actor Mike Hagerty gets remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. And if that weren’t enough, Phil takes the time to interview Russ Haslage about his career in radio, the “wonder” of Subspace, and the history of the fine works by The Federation (and how YOU can help)!

Sure, Covid-19 may be no laughing matter, but Phil Leirness gets things started with a quarantine lockdown joke nonetheless before he and Dean Haglund dig down into the protests surrounding stay-at-home orders, the hopes they have for how society might change in the long-term, and about the dangers of placing your faith in “distrust”. Ageism in Hollywood gets discussed, and then “Star Trek: Picard” and season 2 of “Star Trek: Discovery” get compared and get praised before the commercial break. In the back half of the show, Phil regales Dean with “Star Trek”-related tales involving the likes of JJ Abrams and … Toshiro Mifune?! In “Celebrity Deaths”, two of the all-time great character actors, three legendary jazz musicians, a ground-breaking sculptor, a pop-culture influencing illustrator, an award-winning cinematographer, and a glass-ceiling breaking animator get remembered. Keep calm, stay safe, and enjoy YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

On this week’s show, Dean reveals details of his Halloween night, one-man, improv “X-Files” episode and Phil shares tales of a Halloween week visit to the legendary Magic Castle in “Live Events of the Week”. Accomplished stand-up comic and actor John Witherspoon and Hollywood icon Robert Evans are remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Once again, Dean and Phil discuss the terrific Dolemite is My Name and champion another great title available on Netflix, 2016 Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake. All that, plus HBO’s “Watchmen” and the throw-away gags of “Silicon Valley” get discussed.