The Venture Brothers cartoon on Adult Swim references everything from Hannah-Barbara to Marvel, Led Zeppelin to the Big Bopper, cult cinema and even Oscar Wilde. The show's central theme is failure-- the reality of life after the promises and optimism of the 60s space age have faded. But also the positive value of failure as a way to learn and grow, of making unpleasant realities better, and ultimately whether you can learn to keep the joyfulness of youth without its illusions. In this podcast episode Elana and Steve explore the series as pop culture history geeks, talking about the episodes, drawing out themes and references.