Peaks

For the season 2 finale, Aston Wallace joins me to run through the wildly underrated peak of Jamie Foxx. We remember some of the positives and negatives of Any Given Sunday, the highlights of his multi-platinum standup special, his collaborations with Kanye, his valiant attempt to rescue the Ali movie, and his ridiculously successful 2004 (Collateral and Ray). We toast the The Jamie Foxx show, Booty Call, the time he eviscerated Doug Williams, and the strange legacy of his naked basketball games. We also try to fix the 2005 Oscars and we debate the best cast members of In Living Color.

Kate Wolff and CG Erickson from the Invasion of Privacy podcast help to break down the strange and exciting peak of Jean Claude Van Damme. We reminisce about his unique charm, his legendary flexibility, his odd fashion choices, and his awesome accent. We also explore why he lost the predator role in Predator, whether his best friend in Bloodsport was a good person, the awful things that happened to his fictional brothers, and whether Dolph Lundgren should have had his career.

An elite team is assembled to look back at the thrilling, silly, obnoxious, debaucherous good-times of the hair metal era. We weigh in on bands like Bon Jovi, Heart, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Poison, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Europe, Ratt, Cinderella, and Guns N Roses. We consider whether they were the most or least self-aware people in the world, which videos were the coolest, the biggest rivalries, the most idiotic lyrics, and the goofiest album covers. A great man once said, “It was the house of whores and then it became the house of horrors.” Don’t miss this one.

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Leonardo DiCaprio has arguably been peaking for about 30 years. Dave Primiano and I look back at his third wave, when he ascended to a new level of Hollywood royalty. We talk Shutter Island, Inception, Django Unchained, and Wolf of Wall Street. We don’t weigh you down with too much J Edgar or Great Gatsby, but those were in there too. Then we consider the Mount Rushmore of greatest Leo roles and whether he’ll be in our lives forever.

The great Nick Kupsey and I have a spirited conversation about four top-notch Christmas movies, the merits of Bill Murray, and the holiday movie themes we love and hate. We also ask some important questions: what happened in the limo at the end of Die Hard? What if we switched around the 4-lead actors from these Christmas classics? Where do the love interests rank? Which fictional police force did the worst job? Topics Discussed:

Die Hard (1988)

Scrooged (1988)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Home Alone (1990)

Justin Uretz and I look back at the unique and hilarious heyday of Mike Myers. We celebrate his best characters and try to figure out how he got so many catchphrases catch on, whether he held the championship belt as the biggest comedy star in the world, and why he disappeared.

Marc Riccadonna returns to reminisce about the great John Candy. We talk about how he became everybody’s uncle, his amazing creative chemistry with John Hughes, and why we appreciate him so much more over the holiday season. Pour yourself a rum and Coke and smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. This look back at Johnny Toronto is a fun ride.

Comedian Buddy Harris and I break down the terrifying and bizarre reign of Iron Mike Tyson. We look back at some of his greatest fights, the intimidating way he carried himself, the awesome Nintendo game, and the time he wanted to fight a gorilla. We also play clips of some of the best Tyson impressions.

We look back before we move forward into season 2! We're not going to take credit for how many of our first season subjects found their way back into the public eye since the season started airing, but if you want to give it to us we will graciously accept it. After a quick update of our season 1 subjects, we get into what's ahead. Remember that time Mike Tyson wanted to fight a gorilla? Remember in Wolf of Wall Street when Leo taught us the phases you go through on Quaaludes? Remember when John Candy became everybody’s uncle? It’s all coming up in Season 2 of Peaks.

For the season one finale, Danny Getz and I discuss Jim Carrey’s legendary breakout year and the massive success that followed. Topics include the stacked cast of In Living Color, Carrey’s greatest impressions, the actors that nearly had his roles in Ace Ventura and Dumb & Dumber, and his characters’ bizarre ability to predict the future.