The Flopcast

We received a long list of suggestions for this week's Top 4 1/2 List... and we picked the very dumbest one. So please enjoy our list of guys named Bill. (Yes, despite "Bill" being such an exotic name, we were able to think of a few.) Our Bill list includes songs, movies, cartoons, excellent adventures, science guys, and a bunch of bizarre characters from radio and TV. (Note: In accordance with international Bill list protocol, guys named "Billy" were not eligible. Otherwise we would have just listed Billy Ocean 4 1/2 times.)

Kornflake's 2016 convention tour continues, and this week she shares her adventures at Anime Boston! Getting there was an adventure in itself, but eventually she found a subway mermaid to lead the way. At the convention, Kornflake encountered Teen Titans, the Bear Hug Squad, anime crustaceans, Chickenhead, our old pal Keytar Bear, and many more strange and wonderful characters. Meanwhile, your other Flopcast host may or may not have been creepily lurking just outside the convention. (It was all part of our plan.) Also: a quick look ahead at DragonCon, an important turxting update, and National Dolphin Day. (You know Flipper is still out there somewhere. And Flipper is angry.)

While every other podcast is busy reviewing Batman v Superman, we know what the people really want. They want Kornflake's brutally honest review of the new Full House sequel series, Fuller House. (We've been preparing for this moment for years, by staring at the same photo of Dave Coulier every day.) Kornflake also recommends Zootopia, which offers more political intrigue than any cartoon since Captain Caveman. And we look ahead to next week's Super Megafest convention, where you can meet Burt Reynolds, Chewbacca, Hercules, Eddie Munster, a Beatle, a Badfinger, and The Warriors! (One of those Warriors also starred in the old Ted Knight sitcom Too Close For Comfort, which is very, very important to us.) We hope to see you there -- remember, as Huey Lewis said, it's hip to be a square root, or something.

A sleepy Mayor of Chickentown joins Kevin and Kornflake for a round of "What's in the Bag?" featuring Batman and lobsters (our two favorite things); in perhaps our all-time stupidest National Whatever Day, we learn about Chinese gooseberries, and how Kornflake really feels about produce managers; Kevin wanders around Vermont and experiences the bizarre tradition of "sugar on snow" (it's weirder than you think -- pickles are involved); and we check out a crazy CBGB-themed concert and burlesque show, featuring a Blondie tribute by Niki Luparelli and the Gold Diggers, a Ramones tribute by Warthog, and a Talking Heads tribute by Byrne's Big Suit. (We'd been trying to figure out what was lacking in Kornflake's life. The answer was punk rock and strippers. But isn't that always the answer?)

Get ready to party, kids -- it's National Button Week. (Which one of your Flopcast co-hosts had New Kids on the Block buttons, and which had Men at Work and Air Supply buttons? The world may never know...) Then during our Pudding Pages segment, Siri is horribly offended when we ask a simple question about Roseanne. (The robots are getting angry, people. The revolution has begun.) We also have some Chickens in the News, because a bunch of Canadian kids have started a Chicken Club at their school. (Those lucky Canadians... at Kevin's old school, we certainly didn't have any chickens. All we had was carbon paper.) And we wrap up this goofy little show with a super-quick review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! (Have any other podcasts covered this movie yet? No, we're probably first, as usual.)

Thanks to the highly lucrative world of podcasting, Kevin and Kornflake are pretty much their own bosses these days. But before they got filthy rich giggling about chickens every week, they too had to answer to a bunch of crazy hotheaded bosses. So in this week's Top 4 1/2 List, we're counting down our favorite bosses from our favorite TV shows and cartoons! Thanks to Hanna Barbera, we know all about gravel quarry bosses way in the past, and sprocket factory bosses way in the future. We recall sitcom bosses from The Office, Parks and Recreation, and a little place in Phoenix called Mel's Diner. And of course, there's a certain boss we can't forget from back in Hazzard County. So if you, like Tony Danza, can't figure out who's the boss, just relax and listen. We'll sort it all out for you. Also: National Awkward Moment Day is this week. Remember to tell your boss that you'll need some time off to celebrate.

Oops! Kevin, Kornflake, and the Mayor of Chickentown are trapped in a walk-in freezer! (Kornflake didn't know the door locked automatically!) But while waiting to be rescued by a wacky neighbor, they recall favorite moments from past Flopcast episodes through a series of annoying old clips. Okay, not really. For our 200th show, we're just relaxing in the studio as usual, because alas, this isn't quite a 1980s sitcom. (But we're working on it.) In honor of National Cereal Day, Kevin shares a really stupid idea he once had for a really stupid new cereal. Then the Mayor discusses her recent trip to California for the annual Doctor Who convention known as Gallifrey One. She encountered many colorful characters out west, including the great Luke Ski, TV's Kyle, Lindzilla, Ken Reid, Greg Proops, Laura Kightlinger, Phil Plait, Joseph Scrimshaw, and ESO Director Mike Faber! Meanwhile Kornflake tells us all about her visit to New England's largest game convention, TotalCon. She even has a Flopcast interview with the creators of a new robot-themed card game, PBL Robots! Finally we review some Flopcast stats after 200 ridiculous weeks of podcasting, and reveal why we're dispatching Flopcast listeners, one by one, to North Dakota. (Watch your inbox. You might be next.)

This week we're talking with novelist (The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs), storyteller (The Moth), and podcaster (Boy vs. Girl) Matthew Dicks! Matthew and Kevin grew up in the same tiny town, rode the same stupid school bus, and were the only non-girl flute players in the school band. We recall a time when kids (and crazy unleashed dogs) ran free, and we'd ride our bikes down to Main Street in search of comic books, Donkey Kong, and John Candy on VHS. Our old school was torn down years ago, but our memories of weird little lunches and angry little gym teachers will never die. Also: We're not trying to make "Turkeys in the News" a regular Flopcast segment, but when the police are called to rescue a New Jersey mailman from a bunch of crazy turkeys, what choice do we have? And speaking of New Jersey, Kornflake reminds us to wish a Happy Birthday to Bon Jovi. (We could also wish a Sad Death Night to "Jon Bovi" -- the Bon Jovi opposite band.)

Because we tend to get everything wrong, we have some corrections from a previous Flopcast, mostly involving astronauts and Monkees; a recent benefit show by Dar Williams and Catie Curtis turned wonderfully Schoolhouse Rock-ish; the Fitchburg Art Museum has an amazing new exhibit by our friends from Triiibe (but alas, no plastic lawn flamingos); we visit the Comedy Studio in Harvard Square for a bizarre night featuring Niki Luparelli, Mark Gallagher, Nathan Burke, Skip Daniels, magic, improv, kazoos, and a dumbwaiter; National Whatever Day celebrates our favorite cartoon snowman/Mormon, Josh Gad; and we're going on strike. A podcast strike. But probably just until next week's show.

Kevin and Kornflake celebrate 75 years of the King of Atlantis, the guy in the scaly orange shirt (perhaps not the fanciest of superhero costumes), Aquaman! Yes, Aquaman has been talking to the fish since 1941, he's a founding member of the Justice League of America, and he's your favorite Super Friend. So let's show some respect. We also look at Aquaman's whole crazy Aqua-family: his flipper-footed wife Mera, his teen sidekick Aqualad, and Aqualad's "deep-six chick" (yeah, that's what they called her) Aqua-Girl. And then we have Aquaman's greatest villain (and coolest member of the Legion of Doom) Black Manta, his pesky little "water sprite" Quisp (sort of an underwater Great Gazoo), and his giant octopus buddy, Topo (who is also a fine musician, because why not). We cover Aquaman's 1960s Filmation cartoons, his 1970s Mego action figure, his live action debut on Smallville, and his truly outrageous appearances in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. And of course, a dark scary Game of Thrones-style Aquaman is coming soon to a theater near you! But we suspect that the lighter, sillier version of Aquaman will always be our favorite. And we have freshly-baked Aqua-cookies to prove it.