Gleaming The Tube

There comes a time when you heed a certain call, like the call Kevin and Mike had to watch and discuss 2024’s THE GREATEST NIGHT IN POP - a documentary about the making of the iconic 80s charity single WE ARE THE WORLD, as told by the people who put it together. (Mainly Lionel Richie.)

How'd it come together? Is the song any good? Where the eff are Prince and Madonna? What the eff is Dan Aykroyd doing there? How drunk was Al Jarreau? These questions and more are asked and answered in the latest pulse-pounding episode of GLEAMING THE TUBE!

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2011’s CHALET GIRL stars future Rebel Alliance soldier Felicity Jones as a former skateboard champion who goes to work at a posh ski resort in the alps where she discovers snowboarding, romance, and montages about snowboarding and romance. Not necessarily in that order.

Kevin and Mike talk about the film, the relationship between skateboard and snowboard culture, and why you should really just watch Blue Crush instead of this thing. Welcome to 2024 - it's an all-new episode of GLEAMING THE TUBE!

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Kevin and Mike take a break from the world of skateboard movies for the holidays to discuss some of their favorite Christmas specials - they're joined by Kevin Eldridge from The Flopcast to talk about the storied classics everyone knows (Rudolph, Charlie Brown), some lesser-known gems (A Cosmic Christmas, Muppet Family Christmas), and some holiday disappointments (looking at you, Opus special.) From the very first animated Christmas special ever shown on American TV (Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol) to otter jug bands to Pee-Wee's Playhouse we cover a whole lot of ground - give a listen to see if your favorite gets name-checked by the gang.

We'll be back in 2024 with more skateboard movie action! Happy holidays, y'all!

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The young stars of the 90s are middle aged men in the 80s in 2023’s AIR, a film based on the true story of the AIR JORDAN sneaker and NIke’s attempts to woo then-basketball rookie Michael Jordan. 

Kevin and Mike discuss the film, the one character in it who skateboards, how the Air Jordan sneaker fit into 1980s skateboard culture, and many, many other tangents. If you listen to one podcast episode this year that has two dudes who know next to nothing about basketball try and pontificate about the sport and one of its most famous players make sure it's this latest installment of GLEAMING THE TUBE!

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Kevin and Mike break format for another special episode in honor of the Halloween season and are joined by Hanako Ricks from the Fandom Hybrid Podcast and filmmaker and bon vivant Guy Benoit to discuss our favorite vampire films!

Old, new, cult, and classic - Bram Stoker's Dracula, Blade, Near Dark, Underworld, The Lost Boys, Nosferatu, Horror of Dracula, Priest and more - our panel of film enthusiasts cover a lot of ground and discuss a lot of movies involving thinly veiled metaphors for sex and addiction in this vampire movie special edition of GLEAMING THE TUBE!

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2014’s A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, was promoted as The first Iranian Vampire Western, although when I have been describing it to people I’ve said it’s the first Iranian Skateboarding Vampire Western. It’s in black and white, all the dialogue is in Farsi, and there's a skateboarding vampire.

Kevin and Mike talk about the film, artsy vampire movies, and spend more time than is probably necessary on a tangent about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Happy spooky season, y'all!

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This time out we discuss Eddie Murphy's late 80s hit Coming to America, a film that is packed with stars (James Earl Jones! Arsenio Hall! John Amos! Louie Anderson! Samuel L. Jackson!), packed with laughs, and packed with romance and heart. What it's not packed with is skateboarding but there's juuuuuust enough to justify our covering the film for this podcast.

Our discussion also finds us discussing Eddie Murphy's career as a whole - his meteoric rise to fame in the 1980s and the highs and lows of his career since. Is Coming to America his best film? You'll have to decide for yourself after listening to the episode. Just make sure to sow your royal oats first.

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1988’s BIG, directed by Penny Marshall, stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a pre-adolescent boy whose wish to be "big" transforms him physically into an adult.

Kevin and Mike discuss Hanks' performance, the wave of "kids who turn into adults" films that swept cinemas circa 1987/1988, Hanks' made-for-tv classic of Dungeons & Dragons-related hysteria "Mazes and Monsters", and whether or not this movie is as good as we remember it being. Oh, and Tom Hanks skateboards in it at one point.

Get out your most-bedazzled white tuxedo as GLEAMING THE TUBE discusses Big!

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2023’s BARBIE, directed by Greta Gerwig (who also co-wrote the film), is based on the long-running and popular doll line from Mattel. In the film Barbie (Margot Robbie) has to travel from Barbieland to the real world after suffering an existential crisis. And someone on Venice Beach has a skateboard.

Kevin and Mike are joined by children's book author Phaea Crede to discuss the film, the toy, patriarchy, dream ballets, ninja turtles, why skateboarders look down their collective noses at in-line skates, Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Pee-Wee Herman, and so, so much more.

You can check out Phaea's great books at www.phaeacrede.com

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We're joined by Joe Crowe, co-director of DragonCon's American Science Fiction Classics Track, to discuss 1984's Gremlins (an American science fiction classic if ever there was one)!

Kevin, Mike and Joe discuss the film, the creation of the PG-13 rating, the movie's tie-in novelization, Joe's experience interviewing Zach Galligan onstage at DragonCon, Mike seeing Sha Na Na at age four and thinking it was the band KISS, and so much more, including the very tiny bit of skateboarding that one of the Gremlins engages in during the film.

Turn off all the bright lights, don't get your player wet, and BE SURE not listen before midnight to GLEAMING THE TUBE's coverage of Gremlins!

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