When does an hour turn into 80 minutes? When it’s this week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! Dean is back in Michigan and has travel horror stories. Dean and Phil tackle the latest bizarre turn in the ongoing saga of Paramount changing ownership. An “all icons” edition of “Celebrity Deaths” involves the fascinating story behind the creator of Famous Amos, the hilarious reason Peter Marshall became the long-running host of “Hollywood Squares”, and appreciations of an 80’s music hitmaker, a groundbreaking and format-creating talk show host, and one of the greatest, most important leading men in movie history. Speaking of movies, Dean reviews the new Strange Darling, Phil tries to understand the failure of the recent Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Dean and Phil close with an appreciation of the great Michael Powell. Then, before the show ends, Marc Hershon joins the festivities to celebrate what just might be the best show on television.

Dean is back from his birthday break and reveals just how he celebrated. Phil went to Montecito to prepare for a big show and has tales of a spectacular venue on the water. Have Dean and Phil been watching the Olympics? We find out. Last week, one special guest, Marc Hershon spoke about all that is excellent in television right now and Phil follows up on that by singing the praises of Season 3 of HBO’s “Hacks”. The other guest last week was archivist and global cinema expert Jeff Briggs, and Phil follows up on their discussion of the legendary “Queen of Swords”, Cheng Pei-Pei, by describing two films of hers that he really wants to see. Dean reveals the film HAS seen, the current horror thriller Longlegs, while revealing all his thoughts about the top ten films at the box office. Phil discusses the new documentary starring Martin Scorsese about the greatest filmmaking team of all time, while also singing the praises of one of that team’s most romantic works. The show Phil hosted this past week serves as the “Live Event of the Week” and Dean and Phil end the show by remembering a French movie star, a brilliant sketch comedy and sitcom performer, and a British blues legend in “Celebrity Deaths”. And if you want to check out Phil’s “other” podcast – “The Voice of Los Feliz” – we hope you will! It’s part of his new free Substack that you can find HERE!

Birthday boy Dean Haglund has the week off, so Phil Leirness welcomes Marc Hershon to discuss the recent Emmy Awards nominations and all that is excellent right now in what we used to call “television”. Marc is a screenwriter, author, improv professor, comedy impresario, columnist, editorial cartoonist, and corporate branding expert. He is also responsible for Dean and Phil seeing many of the shows they have discussed over the past several years. Phil also welcomes Jeff Briggs to discuss China’s first female action star, “The Queen of Swords”, Cheng Pei-Pei, who died recently at the age of 78. Jeff is a lifelong archivist, a former magazine writer, and an expert on Asian Cinema. He is also Phil’s former college roommate! All in all, this week’s show is a globetrotting 73-minute epic!

Dean and Phil have thoughts about the recent assassination attempt on former President Trump and these thoughts bring back memories of John Lennon’s murder and of vigilante films of the 1970s, especially Taxi Driver as well as the American classic on which it was based, The Searchers. On this week’s show, you will hear all that before your friends in podcasting get down to remembering the great Bob Newhart and the singular Shelly Duvall, as well as Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau in “Celebrity Deaths”. The “Live Event of the Week” involves Disneyland on its 69th birthday, the invention of audio-animatronics and how Disney was denied toys as a kid. Two movies have Phil’s attention, one of whose story (Widow Clicquot) was written by a future guest of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour and the other (Bodies Bodies Bodies) an A24 satire on both WiFi culture and Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians. Watching it was part of Phil’s efforts to see everything in which actress Rachel Sennott has appeared. Finally, the Emmy Awards nominations get discussed and Dean’s viewing habits get put to the test!

This week’s episode finds Phil in the “DMV” (DC-Maryland-Virginia) area and Dean safely ensconced back in Michgan. Phil quizzes Dean about Renaissance man Martin Mull, iconic Winnipeg musician and broadcaster Ray St. Germain, two Oscar-winning composers, and an Oscar-nominated documentarian. Dean and Phil also sing the praises of perhaps the greatest actor to NEVER get nominated for an Oscar! Such streaming fare as “Tulsa King”, Season 4 of “The Boys”, “Ripley”, Season 2 of “Tokyo Vice”, and Richard Linklater’s Hit Man all get reviewed as well.

This week, after a cold open involving Pee Wee Herman and David Hasselhoff, Dean and Phil discuss Dean’s travel plans, a big 30th anniversary “X-Files” convention and the latest news involving the Hollywood labor battles. Then Dean offers up another suggestion of a vintage television series you might want to avail yourself of while no new series are being produced. An all-music edition of “Celebrity Deaths” will focus on a groundbreaking Chinese American performer, a beloved bass player, an influential punk rock star, and a chart-topping singer. Then, Dean and Phil celebrate the enduring comedic legacy of true cinematic genius Jacques Tati, discussing his life, his career, his artistry and two of his most beloved films. Phil then asks Dean to weigh in on why the exceptionally funny Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves lost so much money. A show that starts out creepy, albeit hilarious, ends that way as well!

This week’s show begins with a round of Dean and Phil’s vintage movie ad game before becoming a preview of April events to which Dean and Phil are looking forward. From there, the show seques into a discussion of the latest news surrounding the Rust on-set shooting trial as well as the latest news involving the ever-expanding on-screen universes of John Wick and Blade Runner, during which Phil questions whether the USA can ever rid itself of gun violence when we so profoundly enjoy fictional depictions of such violence. Two cinematic classics by the great French director René Clément get discussed (one a 1960 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley and the other a 1970 Lewis Carroll and Alfred Hitchcock-inspired film that turned Charles Bronson into the biggest global box office draw), and a circus film from Carol Reed gets celebrated, along with the body of work by its star, Burt Lancaster. In “Celebrity Deaths”, the original Wednesday Addams, the co-creator of “Sesame Street”, and the star of “James at 15” and “Salem’s Lot” all get remembered. Finally, your friends in podcasting and broadcasting commemorate the 12th anniversary of THE “comedy soundcast soundcast” Succotash!

Dean is back in Los Angeles and Phil picks him up at the Eastern Columbia and they take to the mean streets of Los Angeles at the outset of this week’s show! Topics discussed include Dean’s experiences with the late character actor Tom Sizemore, the live-streamed Chris Rock special on Netflix, and the disappearance of the great actor Julian Sands. Then, Phil is joined (via zoom) by Yoshi Kato to discuss the career and legacy of jazz great Wayne Shorter, and later, Phil is joined (via zoom) by Marc Hershon, who shares a great story about the late comedian-turned-actor Richard Belzer. After that, and after several cocktails in Hollywood (!), it’s back into the car for a return trip to the Eastern Columbia where Phil stumps Dean with a very interesting trivia question pertaining to the relevancy of the Oscars. This leads to Dean and Phil deciding (for the first time) to not do any Oscar-related show this year, though they do establish one way in which the Academy Awards probably do matter culturally. 

 

Dean and Phil commiserate about power outages in Dean’s Michigan neighborhood and about snow in Los Angeles! More important than winter season weather, however, are which way the winds are blowing in Hollywood’s award season and they discuss the latest news and how it affects handicapping this year’s Best Picture Oscar race. Long before it was called “Best Picture”, the top Oscar was called “Best Production” and Phil analyzes one of its earliest recipients – Cimarron, one of the only westerns ever to win the top prize from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Another western also has Phil’s attention: Red Sun starring Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Alain Delon. Phil follows up on last week’s remembrance of Raquel Welch, by sharing thoughts on and stories about one of her earliest films, Lady in Cement starring Frank Sinatra. Finally, Phil saw a screening of the great Italian classic The Conformist and discussion of this leads to appreciations on the art of editing and some of its greatest practitioners, as well as an appreciation for the great production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti. Dean also saw a movie this week – the current (modest) box office hit 80 for Brady and Dean actually sings its praises! Dean also has two personal stories about the great stand-up comedian-turned-actor Richard Belzer (with whom he starred in and episode of “The X-Files” exploring the origin of the Lone Gunmen). Other notables remembered in “Celebrity Deaths” include a big screen star of the 60s and 70s, and a 6 time Emmy-nominated television actress of the 80’s and 90s.

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.