The Flopcast

The longest summer in history continues, thanks to our ill-conceived project of watching all the horrifying sequels to that classic summer camp comedy, Meatballs. Tonight we're suffering through Meatballs III: Summer Job, which is even worse than Meatballs II, and is not even set at a summer camp. But it does offer an early starring role for Patrick Dempsey, replacing Chris Makepeace from the original movie as Rudy (and rendering the character creepy and unlikable). Meanwhile Sally Kellerman is way too good for this movie, but there she is, in a role so bizarre we'd rather not even discuss it. (But we do.) A few other Meatballs III actors are recognizable as well, from The Muppet Movie, WarGames, the 90s X-Men cartoon, and being married to Gene Simmons. And one quick scene brings to mind a certain Martian we're sort of obsessed with around here. Throw in the River Rats (a gang of creeps on jet skis), an angry bull attacking everyone, and a soundtrack featuring Loverboy, and it's hard to imagine how it all went wrong. But yikes, it sure did. Join us and we'll get through it together. And if you feel like you need something to ease the pain, we're celebrating National Refreshments Day too! We recommend iced coffee. Always.

Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown have just returned from CONvergence, a wonderful science fiction/fantasy convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So we're reviewing our whole crazy Fourth of July weekend in the upper midwest, including: Kevin's panels on Aquaman, Riverdale, and DC comic books, TV shows, and movies; the Mayor's panels on She-Ra, Doctor Who, The Magicians, and choosing your own adventure; CONvergence guest of honor, writer, and internet sensation Chuck Tingle; concerts from The Doubleclicks, Beth Kinderman and the Player Characters, Karl Brown, The Dregs, and The Gernsback Continuum; comedy and role-playing games with Joseph Scrimshaw; the amazing Nerdlesque dancers; The University of Minnesota Raptor Center's giant birds; lots of amazing cosplay (including Admiral Pepper's Lonely Death Star Band, a chicken group, and our own Mayor's Eleven/Eleven costume); field trips away from the convention for cider, Chinese food, the Mary Tyler Moore statue, and of course, the giant blue chicken; and yeah, even more. 'Twas a festive convention in a terrific new location, and we threw our new Flopcast badge ribbons at everyone we met. Also: We're celebrating the birthday of America's gremlin-loving sweetheart, Phoebe Cates. Slip into a red bikini, or not, and join us.

We're still recovering from last week's movie night (Summer camp aliens! Run for your lives!), so it's a simple show this week, catching up on our recent silly activities. Including: Kornflake on the road in search of adventure and/or relaxation; the music of Carbon Leaf; a live album release show by The Great Molasses Flood; another Moth storytelling show with Matthew Dicks; the Mayor onstage at Old School Game Show; Kevin running around an island for no good reason; and random encounters in Boston with AT-ATs, the Pride parade, and exploding rabbits. Also: It's National Dive Bar Day. So go somewhere that's sketchy, shady, and creepy (you really want all three), and belly up.

Last summer, we devoted a Flopcast episode to Meatballs, the Bill Murray summer camp classic. This summer, we're going to suffer through the horrifying Meatballs sequels. (It's a court-ordered punishment, presumably. Don't jaywalk in Chickentown, kids.) So for this episode, with Kornflake kicking and screaming in protest, we get started by watching and discussing Meatballs Part II. The year was 1984. Bill Murray was off busting ghosts, and wisely avoided this turkey, but the cast is still bursting with familiar faces. In addition to Soap's Richard Mulligan and Night Court's John Larroquette, we have the girl from Escape to Witch Mountain, the older brother from The Wonder Years, the robot from Buck Rogers, and Pee Wee Herman! With that lineup, you ask, how could they go wrong? Oh, they found a way. And yes, it involved a creepy E.T.-style alien who goes to summer camp. Yikes. So hang on, grab some pizza pie, and we'll get through this together. Meanwhile, we're already not looking forward to Meatballs III...

Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are preparing for a silly, geeky Fourth of July weekend at CONvergence! It's one of our favorite conventions, it's in Minneapolis, and there is a giant blue chicken sculpture nearby. Perfect. Guests at this year's CONvergence include writers Peter David and Chuck Tingle, comedian Joseph Scrimshaw, and nerd music duo The Doubleclicks! We're also looking forward to a special CD release performance by our friends Beth Kinderman and the Player Characters! And we run through our CONvergence panel schedule: You'll find the Mayor on panels about Doctor Who, She-Ra, The Magicians, and choose-your-own-adventure books! Meanwhile Kevin's panels will cover Aquaman, Riverdale, and a variety of DC stuff (comic books, movies, and TV). Plus: We reveal our new Flopcast badge ribbons! You know the drill: Find us at CONvergence and get a ribbon. (Warning: They just might be slightly Brady-themed...) Also: We recall chasing ice cream trucks for weird frozen items, because Kornflake is celebrating National Bomb Pop Day again...

Here at last is our God's Comics concert review! Every ten years, Kevin gets together with friends Sean and Adam to form God's Comics, a cover band that only plays Elvis Costello, Men at Work, and The Monkees. In the wake of our legendary 1999 and 2009 shows, our adoring fans demanded a third show, which happened just last month at The Hearing Room in Lowell, Massachusetts. 'Twas a festive evening of old friends, classic pop songs, and one rubber chicken. (Oh, and Kornflake almost stole a couch.) We also have a special conversation recorded right after the God's Comics show, with one of those old friends, Sarah! This talk (during which much Earth fruit is consumed, Robolar-style) covers a bunch of silly topics... but we keep circling back to Silver Spoons. (You know how we feel about goofy 80s sitcoms, and you should have seen this coming.)

It's no secret that Kevin and Kornflake are longtime fans of Brooklyn's ambassadors of love, They Might Be Giants. (Their matching Doctor Worm tattoos sort of gave it away.) And since John Linnell (you know, the keyboard/accordion half of the band) has a birthday this week, we're sharing a few TMBG memories, and flipping through a giant (well, it might be giant) stack of TMBG albums. Including: Kevin and Kornflake on the radio, Doornail and Kornflake on a bus, Kornflake providing a shirt for John Flansburgh (you know, the guitar half of the band) at a TMBG show, a drunk idiot crashing onto Kevin at another TMBG show, and much more. So to borrow a title from a TMBG record: join us. Let's see if we can get this whole Istanbul/Constantinople business figured out. Plus: Another Kornflake on the Road segment, in which we enter the nasty world of pantomime. (Or perhaps it's just "panto." We're still confused.)

Here's an extra-special, extra-weird show we've been meaning to unleash for a few weeks. It's the adventures of Kornflake and Doornail at MarsCon 2019! Yeah, we already discussed MarsCon (the Minnesota science fiction convention which also hosts our beloved Dementia Track of comedy music) back in Flopcast episode 358. But now you'll get the whole story, from both Kornflake and our perpetually giggling Flopcast correspondent, Doornail! You'll hear even more about all our Dementia Track friends (Insane Ian, Cutesylvania, TV's Kyle and Linzilla, Power Salad, the great Luke Ski, Devo Spice, Jeff Whitmire, Michael Hunter, Carrie Dahlby, the Library Bards, and more), plus the Logan Awards, Dementia Smackdown wrestling, Kornflake's Dementia Water Aerobics, the Space Oddity Music Club and Brew Pub, late night fake mustache karaoke, Boob Tree, and mini-golf at the Mall of America. Can Kornflake and Doornail recall their entire wacky MarsCon weekend before they get kicked out of a bookstore café? Let's find out. Ladies, commence giggling...

It's an extra-goofy show, because we're recording from separate remote locations, AND our recording equipment keeps malfunctioning! But we're here anyway, just for you. And this random catch-up sort of show features: Joe Cool vs. Mr. Cool; Star Wars burlesque; stand-up comedy with Dana Gould, Bobcat Goldthwait, and friends; Queen Jessica Mercy at the Watch City Steampunk Festival; our ESO Network boss visiting New England to check up on us; a rare solo show from Letters to Cleo frontwoman (and our favorite singer) Kay Hanley; the Speak Up storytelling podcast live in Connecticut; burritos and benefits in Rhode Island; Kornflake's rain-soaked 5K walk; and Kevin and Brittany (of Good Enough Cosplay) reporting live from their weird 5K run. (But was it really 5K?) Enjoy, as we all collapse in exhaustion.

We're just days away from the third ever performance of Kevin's weird cover band, God's Comics! So this week we have a special interview with our God's Comics co-conspirator, Sean Fullerton! Kevin and Sean recall their mid-90s glory days at the late great Grind coffeehouse, and how their love of Men at Work, Elvis Costello, and The Monkees led to this silly cover band project. Join us at The Hearing Room in Lowell, Massachusetts on Saturday, May 25th, 2019! It'll be festive and ridiculous. And speaking of May 25th, that's also National Wine Day, which means Korkflake has filled the studio with odd little boxes of wine! Needless to say, an impromptu Flopcast taste test breaks out, and there are no survivors.