We time travel to forgotten sitcoms of the 1950’s and their opening themes, including The Mickey Rooney Show/Hey Mulligan, which inexplicably used both titles in the credits.

We have seen the future and it’s 1954. The wondrous space age looking concept cars of the mid to late 50’s would be futuristic even today. We need to bring back a future we can look forward to by putting those concept cars into mass production.

We may be the only podcast recording a new episode on Christmas Day. You’ll hear well crafted segues, find out why Christmas in the US is much less stressful for kids than in Germany and why the worst Christmas might turn out to be the best ever.

On Christmas Eve, Tom receives his first online shoe purchase, a pair of AllBirds, which feel softer than walking on a cloud. Scott recalls trying on shoes as a kid at Stride Rite, where the salesman would press his finger on his big toe, and say ”You got plenty of room.”

The days are now getting longer and today had eight seconds more daylight than yesterday. And we use that extra time to share dating horror stories about drifting kayaks and not being able to pull out of a parking space..

We once again shine a light on the plight of the ghostwriter, that nameless writer who must struggle to convince his date that he really wrote that book. And we salute the “as told to” writer who gets to hang out with celebrities in addition to getting his name on the cover.

If we did our show during the 1918 pandemic, instead of just recording it on our phone, we would have to deliver 17 wax cylinders to each listener’s home. Plus, since they have the same uniform, who wore it first , the bellhop or the organ grinder monkey?.

Rather than tear out the floors of tall office buildings and replace them with giant indoor cliff climbing gyms., we hope workers fill the buildings again, and that the men wear gray flannel suits, and the women wear pencil skirts and high heels.

It seems to us that a fellow can live a decent life driving a less expensive car than a Rolls Royce. When Tom drives his Prius he feels like a man of the people, like Jesus of Nazareth. We look to the future when Jesus goes to Las Vegas and is the headliner at a Vatican themed hotel.

The customer used to be king. Now we are serfs as we must assemble our furniture, check out and scan our grocery and pharmacy items, with no reward or remuneration. And then we’re told to answer survey questions about the experience.