Hola, Sneakers! This week on the show, Bob Mackey and Nina Matsumoto make a return visit to the dragons’ lair! Although we maintain that Bob needs no introduction, let us mention that he is the host of of such big-time podcasts as Talking Simpsons, What A Cartoon and Retronauts. As you will learn this episode, Bob is a big proponent of Patreon. You can find Talking Simpsons and its many spin off podcasts here, and go here to learn more about supporting Retronauts.
And Nina and Bob didn’t drop by just to drink beer, oh no; this week on the show: vocal fries; Dave turns Ian on; nice weather we’re having; revolving restaurants; perfect murders; the 999 controversy; trivial Simpsons experts; bar trivia night; pinball rivalry; personal podcast histories; visiting Conan; the excitement of Mayomust; the non-excitement of Canadian food; California split; safe travels; belief, cognitive dissonance and the flat Earth; the monetary value of everything; promoting yourself; we’re positive; Ricky Gervaise humiliates himself; the awful truth; almost a pun – try “Dogsvadanya”, Dave; and, finally, not with a bang, but a whimper.
Question of the week: What cartoon (animated or strip influenced you the most as a child?)
Thanks for listening.
And,in case your wondering why Britain chose 999 as its emergency number, here’s why.
And who was this 999 band Dave was talking about? Here they are, promoting murder in empty fields and on desolate bridges:
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Influential comic strip: as a child, I had a special connection with the family-oriented strip Hi and Lois which was a spin-off of Beetle Bailey. The Flagston family had the exact same make up as ours: working dad, homemaker mom, older son, a set of boy/girl twins and a baby sister. What were the odds?! That was when I first became aware that the comics that appeared in our daily newspaper were created by someone and they got to invent characters to draw and write about.
Animated TV series: I liked Josie and the Pussycats (which I preferred to Scooby-Doo.) I didn’t realize at the time how radical it was to have a regular female African-American character in a cartoon TV series. I think that shows the importance of representation. It showed kids that it was okay to have an integrated circle of friends and that women could be musicians as well as singers. But even more influential was probably The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. It taught me you could make fun of Russian spies, laugh at the Mounties and use history and fables and fairy tales as fodder for satire and parody.
Psst, Bob’s name is spelled wrong in the description (but not in the tags)
Mimi’s right. We need to fix this.
I try to have one grievous error in each Bill McKay episode!
Even before I knew of Peanuts, or Doonesbury, or Bloom County, I sought the works of Charles Addams, saving my allowance to hand off to my grandfather, who would bring me the Penguin paperback issues of “Drawn and Quartered,” “Black Maria,” “Nightcrawlers,” “Addams and Evil,” “Monster Rally,” and “Homebodies.” That half dozen collection of broken-spined books have traveled with me through the years, but when new, I used them to make my case that “The Addams Family” was better than “The Munsters.” “The Addams Family” came from a LITERARY tradition, I would exclaim, and then produce one of the books. Nobody as impressed, but I got to look at them over recess. I still consider it time very well spent.