The Incomparable Superfeed

All this has happened before, and it will all happen again. Threads weave together as our favourite witches try to avoid needing stitches as swords of Damocles dangle above their heads. Pull up a chair and draw a card because this ep is always a winner.

Dan Moren, John Moltz and Guy English

Just in time for Halloween week, Old Spooky Club returns for 1985’s “Fright Night.” It’s an entirely ’80s comedy-horror movie with zero cynicism and only a single layer of meta. Chris Sarandon is the perfect vampire, even when he’s villanously chowin’ down on a topless lady as he exchanges intense stares with the neighbor kid. If you’ve never experienced it, you don’t know what you’re missing.

"Fright Night" (1985)

Jason Snell with Steve Lutz, Annette Wierstra, Erika Ensign and Kelly Guimont

This episode has many omissions, and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate. Jacob Haller tries to make sense of Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979).

John McCoy with Jacob Haller

Do you like gladiator movies, Joey? It’s 1980’s “Airplane!”—the comedy version of “Zero Hour!”—with serious actors playing ridiculous parts more or less straight. How does the comedy hold up? What’s unique about the approach? Why was it such a huge hit? We put the ZAZ boys under the microscope. Surely we’ll all have a good time! (Don’t call us Shirley.)

"Airplane!"

Jason Snell with Shelly Brisbin, Philip Michaels, Dr. Drang and Steve Lutz

Jeremy gets “the call”. Hospitalization ensues. And the “will they or won’t they” storyline between Casey and Dana kicks into high gear — a gear it may never leave.

We don’t love everything, but we do love the character development for Will and Isaac.

And you. We also love you.

Lex Friedman and Brian Warren

An entertainer from the rural south rises to become a political demagogue. And he’s played by Andy Griffith. This is all kinds of messed up! It’s actually a great film, with A LOT to say to us in the 21st Century. It’s directed by Elia Kazan, and also stars Patricia Neal.

A Face in the Crowd

Shelly Brisbin with Micheline Maynard, Brandon Rottinghaus and Monty Ashley

Get in touch with the show at [email protected] or on the socials.

The Movie: review/commentary on a single classic film

The Self-Referential LTS

Next time, we’ll watch

Just before he was the dad in “A Christmas Story,” Darren McGavin took a trip to Hawaii to play pulp novelist Buck Gibson, a daredevil friend of Robin Masters. Do his misadventures teach us important lessons about how we appreciate our lives? What’s in a Bazooka? And we have several head-canon explanations for an anecdote about Magnum’s dad.

Jason Snell, Philip Michaels and David J. Loehr

This time on Random Pursuit, we learn who’s a loss leader, whose gut is death, and who you should toss your questions to.

Random Pursuit XXXIX

Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky with Dan Moren, Heather Berberet, Jay Miller, Kathy Campbell and Mikah Sargent

Dan Moren -

Heather Berberet -

Jay Miller -

Kathy Campbell -

Mikah Sargent -

After a year-long sabbatical, it’s Shocktober once again for Ch’omasa, L’nell, Daffné, and Thald, as they deal with skulls, gems, and a bone-chilling fear of keys in the triumphant return of Tomb of Horrors!

Shocktober 2024, Tomb of Horrors Part 4

Scott McNulty with Annette Wierstra, Mikah Sargent, Monty Ashley and Nick Scott

Edited by Warren Frey.

I can see clearly now.

John Siracusa and Jason Snell