Booyah 90s Now

Rob tries to embrace his TV fandom. Joe's uncle has all the blu-rays. A cruise is a great place to find love or get killed. Frank Sinatra Jr. plays an off-brand version of his father. Rebecca thinks Gopher is dreamy. Non-athletic actors are bad at seeming athletic, especially when they've smoked infinity cigarettes.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

Michael Madsen goes on a dead-eyed kamikaze mission. A little boy teaches a robotic whale to do tricks. Michael Jackson or R Kelly sings “You Are Not Alone” while the credits roll. Joe repeats himself a lot and for that he is sorry.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

James Van Der Beek’s head is so long. MTV’s focus groups revealed that naked ladies and dumb humor make for a good time. Watching a football movie causes Joe to share a million football memories. That whip cream bikini would’ve been such an absurd mess. Rob eats food out of Joe’s braces.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

Corey Feldman does Rambo! Kiefer Sutherland is triangles! Jami Gertz rolls around! Ed Kemper commits atrocities! Barry Pepper isn't in this! Corey Haim has a good dog! Rob has a bloody hole! So does Joe! 

Hunks. Metafiction. Gilmore Girls. The operational aesthetic. Jenson Ackles gently barking. Jared Padalecki deeply tanned. In this Booyah, Rob and Joe talk about why Supernatural is excellent because it knows exactly what it is.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

In March 2021, we were recording episodes for a planned Patreon launch and talked about Soleil Moon Frye’s documentary about 90s teen stars, Kid 90. It’s on Hulu, if you want to watch it. The Patreon never happened for various reasons, but here’s this episode of Booyah where we get pretty personal, probably because we thought it would be behind a paywall. It turned out that this quick and mostly fun doc about some of the TV kids we grew up watching became a conversation about whether or not Rob’s dad actually loves him, the impossibility of being genuine in a way that might help you feel connected to people who can save your life, and how handsome Mark-Paul Gosselaar still is.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

In 1997, PT Anderson made an extravaganza called Boogie Nights. It’s got one of the greatest casts of all time and some of the sweetest moments you’ll ever see in any movie ever. Rob and Joe talk about strong storytelling and stellar acting and what love is. This conversation ends up being a long, thoughtful celebration of a beautiful thing.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

We watched this YouTube video of 1994 Super Bowl commercials from Cleveland 90s TV & talked about meditative practices, Chevy Chase, Alonzo Mourning, and the inevitable murder of everyone who opposes the will of paramilitary-supported elite scum. And timeless cutie pie Elijah Wood.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

Norm has of course come up on Booyah over the years because he’s the single most influential and beloved public person in my life. 

I love him. And I’m about to get sentimental and maybe a little melodramatic. 

Here and there I’ve told Joe that I don’t really think about death that much. I’ve been lucky not to have really anybody I was close to die—it helps to isolate yourself from the world and just watch TV.

But yesterday Joe texted me that Norm had died, and since then I’ve been sad. Seeing the tributes on Twitter made me cry. Which is surely absurd in some way. But people were celebrating what Norm added to the world. And in my clumsy exploration of something like spiritual truth, I’ve come to believe pretty strongly in the fundamental value of creativity.

We don’t gotta go into it. But I think the essence of existence is creative being. 

And if nothing else Norm Macdonald serves as a model for me of someone who made all kinds of shit. A comedy album. Stand-up specials. Sitcoms. SNL. Podcasts. Movies. A novel masquerading as a memoir. Tweets. Talk show appearances. 

That’s what people were sharing and celebrating last night.

So there’s a reminder here that to create and to give is one way to live a lovely life.

And then there’s this. I’ve sometimes thought that if and when I published a book, I’d send it to Norm. He’d probably never see it, much less read it. But because of his Twitter feed and general half-outsider persona, he felt at least a little accessible. 

And I loved so much of who he was in the world. Creatively, he’s important to me. I stole 80% of my on mic voice and who I am and how I try to be funny in life from Norm Macdonald.

It seems very Booyah to me that who I am is profoundly bound up in this celebrity. I absorbed his media content right into the marrow of my soul.

So I wanted to show him something I made, and maybe he’d think I did a good job.

I haven’t thought that about my own parents or really anybody. I’m telling you it’s unusual for me to feel this way, but: I wanted Norm to be proud of me. 

However unlikely it always was that I’d get that, it’s now impossible. 

I like that it’s a silly thought. I like that it makes me cry. 

It’s nonsense infused with love, and that feels right in matters of life and death.

By the way, morbidly, I suppose, I’ve thought about how I maybe do want other people to be proud of me before they’re gone or I am. My son. Occasional Booyah guest and my writing mentor, Matthew. Joe. 

Maybe I’m not as isolated as I like to think, and creativity—because it’s everything—is one way I can build and strengthen more connections in this world, even if that sounds scary.

I don’t want to go on and on, believe it or not. I just want to say that Norm Macdonald was insightful and funny and difficult and inspiring. 

I’ll miss him. And I want to honor what he’s meant to me. With this old Booyah 90s Sports that we’ve kept in the vault because it’s nothing special.

For what it’s worth, we talk about Norm more thoroughly, I think, on our episode about his stand-up special, Hitler’s Dog, Gossip and Trickery. Look for that in our back catalogue from March 2020.

But here’s us talking in 2017 about an episode of my favorite media thing ever, Norm Macdonald Live. 

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.

It’s 1997, so we’re gonna go ahead and have some practical effects and a jacked Nic Cage zooming around the sky in a big old plane full of John Malkovich. This thing’s written by the Beautiful Girls guy himself and has one of the all-time great bad lines. We got conveyer belts in the middle of Las Vegas streets or whatever goes on at the end. Joe and Rob are talking about those things and more and probably—you guessed it—that accent.

You can help support the show and get exclusive content each month by joining our $5 Patreon tier. 

At low-effort content—where okay is okay—we make stuff and share it with you to celebrate life with curiosity, creativity, and compassion...kind of...sometimes.

You can contact us & buy our coffee mugs and things.

And you can listen to our shows: 

Make Mine a Double Feature, where Rob & Ellen have a few drinks and tell each other movie stories in all kinds of ways—like backwards or in the form of letters or from the POV of a side character.

Kid. Dad. Songs. Yeah!, where Rob & Felix talk about music.

Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

Trading Up!, where Rob barely tries to learn how to trade stocks.

Thanks for hanging out. 

Take care.