This week, Damian and Bill unwrap 🎁 the most 80s Christmas tradition 🎄 of all: being wildly over-promised and spectacularly under-delivered. From Christmas Vacation’s legendary bonus bait-and-switch to the toys 🧸 we circled in the Sears Wish Book like tiny, trusting fools, the guys revisit the gifts that defined our childhoods and the corporate generosity that absolutely did not. It’s a holiday deep dive into wishful thinking, plastic dreams, and why the 80s somehow turned Christmas into a loud, shiny exercise in emotional damage. Ho ho ho.

The holiday hangover continues as Damian and Bill dive headfirst into the cinematic and musical chaos of 80s Christmas. From the big-budget weirdness of Santa Claus: The Movie 🎅to the untouchable holiday throne of A Christmas Story 🎄, the guys debate what worked, what didn’t, and why Ralphie still can’t escape December. Then it’s on to 80s Christmas music 🎶, from Wham! and McCartney’s synth fever dream to U2, Band Aid, and yes… even Stryper 🎸. It’s festive, it’s loud, and it proves once again the 80s never met a holiday they couldn’t overproduce.

We’re unwrapping 🎁 a freshly re-gifted classic! Damian and Bill revisit the neon-soaked nostalgia of 80s holiday TV specials 🎄(yes, including “Christmas in Pac-Land”) and the toys every kid begged for while wearing footie pajamas. It’s festive, it’s funny, and it’s the first of our two-part holiday spectacular — now re-released for your merry binge-listening pleasure.

This week, Bill & Damian tackle two legendary 80s misadventures: the New Coke fiasco and the gloriously chaotic movie Weird Science.

First, marketing pro Michael Daehn joins to unpack the 1980s Cola Wars and how Coca-Cola sparked a nationwide meltdown with New Coke. 🥤🔥

Then it’s onto Trigger Warning (Not) Required: Weird Science, where the guys revisit John Hughes’ teenage fever dream of bras-on-head, supernatural computer magic, Kelly LeBrock perfection, and Bill Paxton literally turning into a pile of… something. 🧪👙💩

Fast, funny, nostalgic, and undeniably 80s.

Rate ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ & follow or we’re bringing back New Coke.

This week, Bill & Damian dive headfirst into the chaotic brilliance of Michael Keaton, the only man who could go from Mr. Mom to Beetlejuice to Batman without breaking a sweat or a single Kirby vacuum. 🦇🧹

Then GREAT SCOTT! It’s the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future. The guys unpack everything from time circuits to why Marty’s best friend is an unsupervised nuclear scientist. Spoiler: therapy was cheaper in 1985. 🛋️⚡️

Plus:
🔥 Miami Vice reboot casting
📺 Why “MTV is dead” memes are lying to you
🍸 A new sponsor straight out of Three’s Company: The Regal Beagle, where the drinks are cheap and the innuendos are free

👻 Grab your proton pack and maybe a crucifix, it’s the 80s Show Podcast Halloween Spectacular! Damian and Bill fire up the VCR 📼 for a supernatural showdown between Poltergeist, Ghostbusters, & Beetlejuice: three movies 🍿 that made the 80s both spooky and strangely fashionable. From cursed TV static and ancient burial grounds to Tim Burton’s gothic 🕷️ weirdness and Bill Murray’s deadpan exorcisms, the guys dissect what made these films cult icons (and why Poltergeist was somehow rated PG).

Then, the terror turns tactile with a look at the history of the Ouija board 🔮,  the Parker Brothers toy that outsold Monopoly and may or may not have invited actual demons to your sleepover.

It’s ghosts 👻, gags, and ghost traps galore, because in the 80s, horror was a family-friendly business.

🎙️ Featuring segments on:

• Poltergeist: Spielberg’s suburban nightmare with Star Wars sheets.
• Ghostbusters vs. Beetlejuice: who you gonna call (or accidentally summon)?
• The Ouija Board Origins: from Victorian séance tool to Hasbro’s haunted bestseller.

🎙 First up, we revisit The Two Coreys 👬. Haim and Feldman, the VHS-era 📼 duo who ruled the 80s with big hair, bigger egos, and movies that ranged from The Lost Boys to “wait, they made how many straight-to-video sequels?”

Then it’s on to One Hit Wonders 🎶, those unforgettable tracks that defined your prom playlist 🕺, then disappeared faster than your Walkman batteries.

Finally, it’s showdown time: Magnum P.I. vs. Michael Knight 📺. Ferrari and mustache vs. perm and talking car. Which crime-fighting icon takes the crown?

Show Notes:

Corey Feldman’s first acting gig at 3 yrs old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv9IXcygXvs

We’re back with another retro rampage through the 80s, starting with a high-speed pratfall into The Naked Gun universe. The 2025 reboot is coming in hot, but can it match the absurd brilliance of Leslie Nielsen’s 1988 deadpan perfection?

Next, we ask the question no one else is brave enough to: What ever happened to C. Thomas Howell? Saddle up, Swayze fans, it’s time to find that lost Ponyboy.

Then, it’s another round of Ask A Millennial, where we take our microphones to a local brewery and test Millennials & Gen Z’s knowledge of the most tubular decade. Do they know who ALF is? Can they rewind a VHS? The results are both tragic and hilarious.

🎧 Listen now or face the wrath of the Garbage Pail Kids.

We hit the mall, dig into 80s relics that aged terribly (Soul Man & Garbage Pail Kids), then button-mash our way back to the Atari 2600.

First stop: the mall. Back when “hanging out” meant wandering between Chess King, Sam Goody, and Spencer’s Gifts until your mom picked you up three hours late.

Then in Trigger Warning (Not) Required, we dust off two relics so problematic they practically cancel themselves: Soul Man (the 1986 blackface “comedy” that Hollywood somehow said yes to) and Garbage Pail Kids (the gross-out trading cards that smelled like a lawsuit).

Finally, we dust off the Atari 2600 to relive video games that were basically squares eating other squares, and yet, somehow, we couldn’t stop playing.

🎧 Press play, because sometimes nostalgia tastes like Orange Julius and pixelated joy.

Show Notes:

Merry-Go-Round Quiet Riot parody commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcPhS3xifH4 

Hot Dog on a Stick - making lemonade: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FWvzNNxgwW8

Soul Man Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtF7gzieN4 

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CqoHch6QzQ 

This week, we salute the patron saint of ‘80s comedy, John Candy, because if you didn’t laugh at Uncle Buck, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, or Spaceballs, you might be dead inside.

Then Bill dusts off his Olympic credentials to relive the 1984 Summer Games, when L.A. was hotter than a Members Only jacket in August and the Soviet Union was conveniently “busy” that year.

We wrap it all up with another round of 1980s trivia, because nothing says “good time” like forgetting the name of that one guy from that one band you swore you’d never forget.

Show Notes:

• Spaceballs II Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsK-KPi_w3w
• Joe Montana, “Hey look it’s John Candy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2CwVbv7Wy4 
• Going Berserk (1983) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1oE01Qb5Bc
• Carl Lewis sings the national anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlypkbwBd50 
• Mary Lou Retton Wheaties Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UOPmwmwARQ