This week on Mel & Floyd: SmartyPants’ graduation miracle; The “Clopsey” art contest; Steve Bannon to stand trial…eventually; An odd summer festival in Monona; Memories of Little Miss Porkette; GOP machinations explained; Russia’s new enemies list; Is artificial intelligence really intelligent?; A “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie review; A union-busting chatbot; Gang of orcas attacking boats; And other random topics; Subscribe to the Mel & Floyd Podcast on itunes and never miss another episode [Unless the power goes off again] – It’s FREE!; Passersby were amazed at the unusually large amounts of blood.
Photo courtesy Johnny Briggs on Unsplash
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Thomas Edison Would Be Proud

Two wacky guys broadcast a hilarious blend of political commentary, weird news, and stand-up comedy. Mel & Floyd were voted Madison’s favorite radio personalities in the Isthmus reader’s poll in 2009.

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This week on Mel & Floyd: On-air crossword puzzle tips; Mel’s concert promotion service; Reminiscing about a Supreme Court that did its job; The end of a State Street institution; Spiders on Mars?; Whooping crane costume saves the day; Crazy Legs to impact downtown traffic; Vintage cherries unearthed at Mt Vernon; Fewer calories equals longer life?; And other random topics; Subscribe to the Mel & Floyd Podcast on itunes and never miss another episode [Unless the power goes off again] – It’s FREE!; Passersby were amazed at the unusually large amounts of blood.
Photo courtesy Егор Камелев on Unsplash
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Little Scuttley Things

This week on Mel & Floyd: Pants lays down some truth; RNC extorts their own; Dynamiting deer stands in Minnesota; Culvers is number one!; Child labor in Louisiana; Brain wave privacy protection; Cold & snoozing in the courtroom; Smarty Pants reveals his fetish; Wayne, the world’s oldest wombat; Lava tubes on Mars; Cicadas starting to emerge; Super yachts going under?; A fitting “freedom caucus” acronym; And other random topics; Subscribe to the Mel & Floyd Podcast on itunes and never miss another episode [Unless the power goes off again] – It’s FREE!; Passersby were amazed at the unusually large amounts of blood.
Photo courtesy Maximilian Scheffler on Unsplash
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Commodify My Brain

This week on Mel & Floyd: A free-ranging ecumenical conversation followed by a film festival recap; A full load of appliance-related bills from the House GOP; Fantasies about Michelle Obama; Reasons for the teacher shortage; Tennessee cracking down on inbreeding; Antecedents to “Airplane”; Ongoing record-high temperatures; Moon moving further from Earth [out of embarrassment?]; And other random topics; Subscribe to the Mel & Floyd Podcast on itunes and never miss another episode [Unless the power goes off again] – It’s FREE!; Passersby were amazed at the unusually large amounts of blood.
Photo courtesy Talha Hassan on Unsplash
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Trace Amounts of O.J.


On this year’s Mel & Floyd Film Fest Special, Smarty Pants ditches us for a smarty conference so Mel calls in Floyd and they set up shop in the lobby of the Bartell Theater. With a line up of 7 guests and 4 films, the funny boys do their best to stick to a script!


Joining us to kick off the show are 4 Star Video’s Lewis Peterson and the Wisconsin Film Festival’s Ben Reiser to tell us about the films they are excited about. 
We then talk with co-directors Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman about their thriller comedy Coup! This dark and deeply clear full-length movie tells the story of a rebellious servant who attempts to take over the home of his wealthy employer. Coup! is showing at 8:30pm on Friday, April 5th at The Barrymore. 

We then have the exclaimed art critic Mary Louise Schumacher to talk about her film Out of the Picture which is debuting in the US during the festival. The documentary follows art critics as they embracing the changing landscape and the death of many smaller newspapers and magazines across the country. Out of the Picture is showing at the Chazen Museum of Art, Friday, April 5th at 8:15pm.

Next, director Nathan Deming joins the funny boys to talk about his short film February. The film is about a young Mexican man who struggles to settle into his new life in a small Wisconsin town, but then he discovers ice fishing. February is a Golden Badger Award winner and plays at 2pm on Sunday, April 7th at the Marquee at Union South.

Lastly, we talk with Peter Flynn, director of Film is Dead, Long Live Film. The documentary mixes in depth interviews with film collectors and rich images recovered from Nitrate and safety film.  Film is Dead. Long Live Film will play on Saturday April 6th  at 1:15pm at the UW Cinematheque.
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Mel & Floyd’s 2024 Wisconsin Film Festival Extravaganza: Li...


Our topic today: war.
We start the hour with Christopher Gunness in a discussion over the killing of aid workers and the role of refugee aid agencies in Gaza. He is Executive Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project, and former spokesperson for UNRWA, a Palestinian refugee relief agency that Israel, in recent days, has proposed dismantling in exchange for permitting more humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Then for the rest of the hour, we turn our sights closer to home, and speak to the troupe putting on a production of Mother Courage Alone ahead of their three-performance run this weekend. The play, from Fermat’s Last Theater Company, is an adaption of Bertolt Brecht’s 1939 antiwar play Mother Courage and Her Children. 
Director David Simmons, and professors Nam Kim and Marc Silberman join Esty in the studio to talk about the production. The play, they say, is “a searing portrayal on stage of what we now see daily in the media.” The play opens tonight, Friday April 5, at 7:30pm, and will be followed by a discussion with Nan Kim on the origins and causes for war.
It will have additional afternoon performances this weekend on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7 at 2pm. All performances are at the Arts + Literature Laboratory. Admission is free and open to the public. More information is at fermatstheater.org.

About the guests: 
Christopher Gunness is the former chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees.  He is the founder and Executive Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project, which works to build criminal cases against individual members of the Myanmar security forces. Gunness covered the 1988 democracy uprising in what was then Burma for the BBC, where he worked for 23 years. He later joined the United Nations as Director of Strategic Communications and Advocacy in the Middle East. You can follow him on Twitter @MyanmarAProject.
Marc Silberman is Professor Emeritus at UW-Madison, where he studies and teaches the history of German literature, culture, political theater and cinema. He has translated and edited many works on Brecht and German culture.
Nam Kim is an anthropological archaeologist interested in sociopolitical complexity, and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at UW-Madison. He is the co-author of the book Emergent Warfare in Our Evolutionary Past (Routledge, 2018).  He is himself a child of war — his Korean father met his Vietnamese mother during the Vietnam War, and they fled in the exodus of 1975.
David Simmons is the founder of Fermat’s Last Theater Company, which he has directed since 2013. The free theater never charges admission, and prides itself on documentary theater that confronts issues of political and social inequality.
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Thomas Edison Would Be Proud

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