Episode 189: Disco Godfather

Cold Open:
Matt liked 1917
Craig thinks the Oscars are biased toward movies about Hollywood (Neither Matt nor Craig pegged Parasite as the Best Picture winner)

Gift:
Nesting sock monkeys

Craig’s Background LP:
James Brown “Live at the Apollo Vol. IV”

Show Notes
• Craig points out a cat toy. Matt wears the wrong glasses.
• Matt introduces the movie with a bunch of red herring facts about Coppola’s The Godfather. Cecil the cat interrupts him right at the end.
• The DVD was sent in to the show by a viewer
• Matt and Craig are shocked by the amount of profanity in this PG rated film
• “Saturday Night Ague”. “Minimalisco”.
• Craig is so surprised by the ending that his notebook ejects itself from the couch
• Matt proposes a remake of Disco Godfather with Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key in the lead roles
• Craig used to confuse PCP with PVC

Seen It:
(Theme: Oscars 2020)
Joker
Jojo Rabbit
The Irishman
Ford V. Ferrari

Closing Credits:
The police chief gives a big speech to no one

Ernesto Stinger:
“Where is Bucky and what has he had?”

Episode 190: The Awful Truth

Cold Open:
The death of Terry Jones
Reflections on Monty Python

Gift:
Pick up sticks game

Craig’s Background LP:
Bob Dylan “Blood on the Tracks”

Show Notes
• The basement enjoys its longest running tradition of enjoying a romantic movie to celebrate Valentine’s Day
• Matt is interrupted by a cat during the intro
• Ralph Bellamy makes his second appearance on the show
• Matt’s Christmas-themed rapper alter ego is Li’l Nutmeg.
• Matt and Craig make one Neil Diamond reference a piece.
• Craig makes an erroneous argument that “a prefix is a suffix”. They go off on a further tangent about the implications of “re”.
• Craig warns aspiring stand-ups against the temptation of the Hawaiian shirt
• “…and now it’s time to screw our balls on over to Seen It”
• There is a debate about the “handsomest ugly man alive”. Matt thinks Adam Driver, Craig goes with Willem Dafoe.
• Matt changes the meaning of a Seen It comment with a carefully placed pause
• “Poverty causes people to commit atrocities; affluence causes people to ignore atrocities”
• Craig predicts that Roger Deakins will become “The Boston Red Sox of the Oscars.”
• Matt calls The Two Popes “a Pope-mance”. Craig claims it should have been called “Too Many Popes” or “My Dinner with Francis”.

Seen It:
Marriage Story
1917
Parasite
The Two Popes

Closing Credits:
Musings on knocking

Ernesto Stinger:
(Mr. Smith barking]

Episode 191: The Defiant Ones

Cold Open:
Craig’s son and “Werewolves of London”
A Chinese restaurant adventure

Gift:
Thumb Sumo thumb puppets

Craig’s Background LP:
Public Enemy “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”

Show Notes
• The second appearances of Tony Curtis, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Akins
• Craig impersonates Alfalfa, the Little Rascal
• Craig defeats Matt in a thumb sumo match
• With the return of Lon Chaney comes the return of Matt’s “Big Doggie” voice
• The guys recall their experiences with the play ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’: Matt has happy memories, Craig has regrets (“Skip Maxwell!”)
• Matt recounts the untimely death of Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer
• Craig and Matt do some ‘Uncut Gems” style improvising
• Matt claims that Rene Zellweger’s performance in ‘Judy’ is the best acting he’s ever seen
• Matt discovers that there is no viewer comment about Bombshell for Seen It. Craig tells him to just make one up, and “Fran Neuhaus” is born. “Nine years in, I’m kind of surprised it’s taken us so long to invent Fran.”
• “Is Fran Neuhaus going to become our Alan Smithee Jr.?”
• As per tradition, Matt asks Craig to give him the birthday gift of a movie for the next episode. He requests a movie from 1945.

Seen It:
Uncut Gems
Midsommar
Judy
Bombshell

Closing Credits:
“Ballroom Blitz” and “Selections from Sondheim”

Ernesto Stinger:
“And I’ll be Charlie Potatoes! Charlie Potatoes comin’ down the street!”

Episode 192: Mildred Pierce

Cold Open:
Craig on three star movies
Craig repeats himself

Gift:
A small key lime pie

Craig’s Background LP:
Camper Van Beethoven “Key Lime Pie”

Show Notes
• The movie is Craig’s birthday gift to Matt (as requested in the previous episode). Matt reveals that Mildred Pierce is the same movie he would have chosen for 1945.
• Craig kills the humor of a Joan Crawford “Wire Hanger” joke with a distinctly not humorous reference
• The second appearance of Director Michael Curtiz
• Ray Milland and the Lost Weekend bat make a return appearance
• Matt eats pie throughout the movie
• “Humpaway”
• Matt is indecisive on who is the worst character in the movie.
• Craig is briefly confused on the distinction between man and woman and between Henry Ford and Henry Fonda
• Matt recalls possibly walking past Stanley Tucci on a New York sidewalk
• Matt determines that The Lighthouse has one fart too few

Seen It:
Harriet
Citizen X
Julie and Julia
The Lighthouse

Closing Credits:
Craig critiques customer service

Ernesto Stinger:
“With me bein’ smart’s a disease, know what I mean?”

Episode 193: The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Cold Open:
Craig announces the recent birth of his second son, Santino.
Craig has grown a “protest mustache”.

Gift:
Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Guy

Craig’s Background LP:
Queen II

Show Notes
• Matt delivers a pre-cold open address to the viewer, regarding the COVID-19 quarantine
• Craig participates in the show remotely, via zoom. He is sitting in the front hallway of his house.
• Craig begins a tradition that lasts through the remote episode of hanging a fan-sent postcard behind him and adding a new one for each subsequent episode. This episode: The Wizard of Oz
• Matt and Craig both mistakenly thought this film was directed by Baz Luhrman
• The Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Guy gives a less than impressive performance
• Sadie the cat camera-bombs Matt’s movie summary
• “I will mock a cock in a frock on a rock.”
• A freeze-frame ending in the movie prompts a freeze-frame ending on the couch
• The boys come up with Drag alter-egos: Craig is “Glenda Close”, Matt is “Manfred Woman”.
• Fran Neuhaus makes a second appearance
• Matt once again brings up the “New York Losergentsia” when discussing Mistress America

Seen It:
Dolemite is My Name
Something Wild (1961)
Knives Out
Mistress America

Closing Credits:
Tona clowns around for Zoom while we wait for Craig to dial in

Ernesto Stinger:
“Aren’t we faaaaabulous?”

Episode 194: Hairspray

Cold Open:
Brainstorming COVID-related movie ideas
Amsterdam thieves steal Craig’s idea

Gift:
Handcuffs

Craig’s Background LP:
B52s “Wild Planet”

Show Notes
• Craig continues to participate remotely via Zoom
• Craig decides to add one postcard to the wall behind him for every new remote show. This time he coincidentally chose a postcard featuring John Waters and Divine, the director and star of Hairspray.
• Matt dubs April 2020 “Queer Cinema Month”
• Debbie Harry makes a second appearance on the show
• “Faster…FASTER!”
• Sadie the cat camera-bomb’s Craig’s laptop and Matt’s desk
• Craig recalls winning a wallet in an eighth grade twist contest

Seen It:
(Theme: Streaming)
Rolling Thunder Revue
Deadwood: The Movie
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Watchmen (HBO series)

Closing Credits:
Tona does some more clowning around for Zoom

Ernesto Stinger:
“I love you Tracy!”

Episode 195: The Damned United

Cold Open:
Matt hates DVD menus that show scenes from the movie
Craig loves The Godfather DVD menus

Gift:
Guido Buchwald soccer figurine

Craig’s Background LP:
The Damned “Damned Damned Damned”

Show Notes
• Craig continues to participate remotely via Zoom. He has moved from the front hall to the library and adds an Ethan Hawke postcard to his background.
• The DVD was sent in by a viewer
• Matt makes a promise to try to remember to call it “Football” not “Soccer”
• “Faster…FASTER!”
• Craig convinces Matt that he has portrayed Winston Churchill, because “everybody has”
• Matt sings the little-known American lyrics to “God Save the Queen.”

Seen It:
(Theme: Seen It, Own It)
Point Blank
Toy Story 4
Whiskey Galore
Z

Closing Credits:
Cecil interferes with Matt on the couch and Craig’s jealousy flares up

Ernesto Stinger:
“I apologize for being a twat”

Episode 196: Modesty Blaise

Cold Open:
Favorite Simpsons quotes
Craig toasts evil, Matt “is so smart”

Gift:
Whirl-O launching toy

Craig’s Background LP:
Nancy Sinatra “Boots”

Show Notes
• Craig participates via zoom from the library. He has shaved off his protest mustache and has added Elizabeth Taylor to the background postcards.
• The second appearance of Terence Stamp on the show
• Matt employs a visual aid to sell his “Free Willy” joke
• Craig shows off his newborn son, Santino. Matt makes him cry (Santino, not Craig).
• “Man, even Craig’s baby hates this movie!”
• “When style wins, the audience loses”
• Matt and Craig do an impromptu rendition of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie and Clyde”
• The discussion of Moby Dick inevitably brings about mumbly impersonations of Gregory Peck

Seen It:
(Theme: Seen It, Read It)
No Country for Old Men
The Maltese Falcon
Moby Dick
From Hell

Closing Credits:
Matt lip-syncs a siren

Ernesto Stinger:
“We must have Modesty Blaise!”

Episode 197: Day of the Dolphin

Cold Open:
Matt’s movie selection process
Craig yearns to have the enthusiasm of the late Jack Horkheimer

Gift:
Octopus-themed paddleball game

Craig’s Background LP:
The Soft Boys “Underwater Moonlight”

Show Notes
• Craig continues to beam in remotely from his home library. He adds a Totoro postcard to his background. He misses the couch and Matt, presumably in that order.
• Matt calls a movie with a lot of famous actors a “star cluster”
• The second appearances of George C. Scott, director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry
• Matt fails at paddleball and French
• The movie is from 1973, a year that Matt has chosen a movie from for every season since season 1
• Craig is distracted by an old man carrying a tree outside his window
• Matt contemplates the mystery of Servern Darden

Seen It:
The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
If Beale Street Could Talk
Misery
Cats

Closing Credits:
A dolphin counts

Ernesto Stinger:
“Pa!”

Episode 198: The Point

Cold Open:
More Matt movie pet peeves
“Kid”, “Sis”, “Bro” and morning underwear

Gift:
Bendable Homer Simpson

Craig’s Background LP:
Harry Nilsson “The Point”

Show Notes
• Craig attends the show via zoom from his childhood bedroom
• The first movie of Cartoon June. Matt takes advantage of the remote situation to make Craig’s background LP a blatant clue to the identity of the movie
• Once again Craig’s added background postcard (The Beatles) becomes a movie-related prediction (The Point is narrated by Ringo Starr). This is Ringo’s third appearance on the show.
• Craig does a perfect Dustin Hoffman impersonation; Matt brings back his famous Lon Chaney, Jr, big doggie voice.
• Matt impersonates Darth (or possibly Chad) Vader
• Matt is distracted by a chirping bird and asks Craig to chase it away or throw a rock at it. He eventually concludes that the bird is noisy because it hates The Point.
• Craig claims not to be a basement person anymore. “I’m above-groundsey”.
• Craig sings a Nilsson-style introduction to Seen It
• Matt renames Live, Die, Repeat “Groundhog D-Day”
• Craig gets to “choose” the next movie (he will submit a list of three animated films to Matt, and Matt will pick one)

Seen It:
(Theme: Mail Crate)
Wolf Children
Mary and Max
Live, Die, Repeat (Edge of Tomorrow)
Waterloo Bridge

Closing Credits:
Craig expounds on the idea of “The Mob”

Ernesto Stinger:
“You don’t have to have a point, to have a point, dig?”

Episode 199: Chicken Run

Cold Open:
Craig watches Star Wars with his son
Craig is annoyed by his son

Gift:
Create Your Own Cartoon Monster Party

Craig’s Background LP:
Johnny Cash “At Folsom Prison”

Show Notes
• For the seventh (and presumably final) time, Craig connects remotely to the show from his childhood bedroom. He adds a George Melies “Trip To the Moon” postcard.
• The two other movies Craig chose as possibilities for the final episode of Cartoon June are Sita Sings the Blues and Ernest and Celestine
• The second appearance of Aardman studios, director Nick Park and actor Timothy Spall
• Matt discovers that Craig’s gift was a Wendy’s kid’s meal surprise and forgets that Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas has been dead for decades
• Matt continually references Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm”
• Fran Neuhaus makes a third appearance
• Matt hates the movie The Comedian with “a poisonous passion”, vents about “the magical viral video” and makes the bold assertion that Robert De Niro is not funny.

Seen It:
Rocketman
Night Moves
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
The Comedian

Closing Credits:
Matt swing dances

Ernesto Stinger:
“No chicken escapes from Tweedy’s Farm!”

Episode 200: Yor Hunter From the Future

Cold Open:
Basement pandemic protocols
“He’s getting to it later!”

Gift:
Glow Fossil Science kit

Craig’s Background LP:
Bob Dylan “Bringing it All Back Home”

Show Notes
• Craig and Matt are back together in the basement (after negative COVID tests) to celebrate the 200th Episode – a one-time maskless event
• The first episode of Sci-fi July with appropriate music and graphics
• The tradition of having the audience choose a movie for every 50 episode milestone is upheld, since the Yor DVD was sent by a viewer to the show
• Matt reads a short excerpt from “Variety’s Complete Science Fiction reviews”
• Matt disputes that Yor is actually “from the future”. Craig attempts to refute this with a confusing story about a time-traveling smartphone
• Matt admits his ignorance about the country of Turkey
• Matt coins the genre “Sigh-fi” (gloomy sci-fi movies with tortured characters) citing Ad Astra, Nolan’s Interstellar, Silent Running and the films of Alex Garland as examples
• Craig observes that “auteur”- directors do not do well in franchises because they have difficulty working within the rules and guidelines of a franchise saga (Rian Johnson and Edgar Wright being prime examples)
• Matt expresses his gratitude to the viewing audience (and to Craig and Tona) and shares a basket of letters and correspondence he’s saved over the years

Seen It:
(Theme: Sci-fi)
Avengers: Endgame
Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Ad Astra
Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Closing Credits:
A beeping and booping computer inspires Craig to sing “Yor’s Theme”

Ernesto Stinger:
“Damn Talking Box!”

Episode 201: The Zero Theorem

Cold Open:
Homemade clear face masks
“A two-fer of suffocation”

Gift:
Perquacky word game

Craig’s Background LP:
The Beatles (“The White Album”)

Show Notes
• Matt and Craig resume in-person shows. Thus begins a parade of different face masks over the coming months.
• Craig and Matt switch from the clear face helmet to more traditional masks after the cold open
• The second movie of Sci-fi July
• Matt and Craig recall funny masked people of the past (MASH and Spiderman)
• The second appearance of David Thewlis on the show
• Matt attempts a Christophe Waltz impersonation multiple times
• The movie is oddly evocative of the COVID era: Zoom chats, working from home, therapy on the computer, reliance on social networks, social isolation, avoiding physical contact, ordering pizza, virtual vacations, etc.
• Matt receives a text
• “This movie is the cinematic Tardis. It’s longer on the inside than it says on the outside.”
• Matt mixes up Sam Lowry from Brazil with Sam Wainwright from It’s a Wonderful Life. Craig confuses Tyrone Power with Victor Mature.
• Matt makes the happy realization that “Gilliam” is one letter away from “William”
• Craig introduces Seen It with sign language
• Craig and Matt are sharply divided on Joe Vs The Volcano
• Craig has trouble with the word “resonant”
• House of 1000 Corpses (“Never in a thousand corpses would I pick that movie for our show”)

Seen It:
Straight Time
Joe Vs. The Volcano
Witness for the Prosecution
Little Women

Closing Credits:
A jazzy rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep”

Ernesto Stinger:
“Pizzaa! Pizzaa!”

Episode 202: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Cold Open:
A re-examination of bad movie titles
A title is only as good as the movie

Gift:
Donut-shaped pillow

Craig’s Background LP:
Blondie s/t

Show Notes
• Matt wears a different homemade clear face mask for part of the show
• The second “appearance” of screenwriter/novelist Anita Loos and actor Marcel Dalio
• Craig’s wife’s grandmother claims to have had Marilyn Monroe as a childhood friend
• Craig uses a “fox and hedgehog” metaphor to describe director Howard Hawks
• Matt tells a story about a theatrical viewing of Muppet Treasure Island and a case of mistaken identity
• Matt delivers a short verbal essay on The Beatles
• Craig recalls a block party viewing of A Hard Day’s Night
• Matt announces a fan-made supercut of the first 200 episodes of the show (thanks to Tom and Chris Frank)

Seen It:
(Theme: Musicals)
Muppet Treasure Island
Hairspray (2007)
A Hard Day’s Night
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

Closing Credits:
Craig is confused by his own handwriting

Ernesto Stinger:
“Case dismissed!”

Episode 203: Speedy

Cold Open:
The Toy Story of the 1970s
Craig has a Leonard Maltin objection

Gift:
Colorful Jacob’s Ladder

Craig’s Background LP:
Elvis Costello “Spike”

Show Notes
• Craig forgets to put on his jacket for half of the show
• Matt makes a very tasteless joke about orphans
• Matt proposes a film festival featuring a movie from each decade of cinema to represent the evolution of New York City
• Craig shares a childhood myth about Babe Ruth
• Bats are mentioned without cutting to the customary clip from The Lost Weekend. Also, for a movie about speed, there’s no mention of “Faster! Faster!”
• Due to an equipment glitch, backup audio was used from Seen It to the end of the show
• Fran Neuhaus shows up for a fourth time in Seen It

Seen It:
The Buddy Holly Story
Cleo from 5 to 7
Cool Hand Luke
Green For Danger

Closing Credits:
Amadeus and Falco

Ernesto Stinger:
(Musical flourish)

Episode 204: The Crow

Cold Open:
The dawn of DVDs
Pulp Fiction in Spanish

Gift:
Jacks game (with “jack sack”)

Craig’s Background LP:
The Cure “Pornography”

Show Notes
• Craig spreads misinformation about the band Pantera
• Cecil the cat expresses vocal sympathy for one of the characters in the movie
• The second appearance of Jon Polito on the show
• Matt does a fairly competent impersonation of Jerry Seinfeld
• “Faster…FASTER!”
• Craig claims that the ending of the Crow and the ending of Paddington are the same
• Matt explores the “gang of cackling psychopaths” movie trope
• Matt recalls disliking the band My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
• Craig recalls a friend who wept at The Crow
• Craig wishes he went through a Goth phase

Seen It:
(Theme: Crime)
Zodiac
The Great Muppet Caper
Jackie Brown
Road to Perdition

Closing Credits:
Behind the scenes clowning around and “Aw Man! I’m all outta cash!”

Ernesto Stinger:
“Tell the rest of them that death is coming for them…tonight!”

Episode 205: Beat the Devil

Cold Open:
A non-discussion of the film Blinded By the Light
Favorite Springsteen songs

Gift:
Pocket magnetic Chess and Checkers

Craig’s Background LP:
Dio “Holy Diver”

Show Notes
• Craig reveals that his dad was a checkers savant
• Matt and Craig briefly discuss the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia
• Matt recalls childhood memories of Gina Lolobrigida
• Craig discusses his hot water bottle use. Matt seems to think that they went extinct.

Seen It:
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Roadhouse
Sweet Charity

Closing Credits:
A Sea Captain gets upset about gin

Ernesto Stinger:
“It’s execution day…”

Episode 206: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Cold Open:
Giancarlo E-SPO-sito
Willem DAY-fo

Gift:
Chattering wind-up teeth

Craig’s Background LP:
AC/DC “Highway to Hell”

Show Notes
• The first of three Halloween episodes for October, with appropriate theme music and graphics
• Craig is familiar with the band AC/DC (“Anti-Christ Devil Cult”)
• The DVD was submitted to the PO Box by a viewer
• Pam Grier’s second appearance on the show
• Matt proves himself worthy of writing headlines for Variety with “Something Wicked This Way Flops”
• Craig makes himself grotesque with the chattering teeth toy
• The chattering teeth seem to have a mind of their own next to the DVD cover
• The chattering teeth react from Craig’s pocket to Matt’s “bowel cancer” joke. Later on they react to a tense scene.
• Matt employs some cheap visual effects to simulate hand tattoos
• “Slower…SLOWER!”
• Matt claims that for $10,000 he couldn’t hold a tarantula for 1 minute
• Matt recalls seeing Ray Bradbury at Comic Con
• Matt quotes Bachelor Party and sings the theme song. Craig sings the theme song to Romancing the Stone

Seen It:
(Theme: 80s Cable Roundup)
Police Academy 2
Bachelor Party
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Romancing the Stone

Closing Credits:
A father comes clean with his son

Ernesto Stinger:
“My name is Dark”

Episode 207: Black Sabbath

Cold Open:
A tired modern movie cliché
Mike Judge and Hip Hop

Gift:
Flinch card game

Craig’s Background LP:
Black Sabbath “We Sold Our Soul for Rock n Roll”

Show Notes
• The second scary movie of Halloween
• The second appearance of Boris Karloff
• Matt misidentifies the hometown of Black Sabbath as Sheffield rather than Birmingham
• A red telephone prompts Craig to make up a recurring character named Khrezhnev (“I’m kind of a mixture of Brezhnev and Khrushchev”)
• Cecil the cat reacts to the mention of murder
• Matt proposes a modern remake of My Dinner With Andre

Seen It:
(Theme: Art House Cinema)
The Other Side of the Wind
Medium Cool
The Blood of a Poet
My Dinner With Andre

Closing Credits:
Matt does “The Horse Voice”

Ernesto Stinger:
(in Italian) “They say he was a Wurdalak

Episode 208: The Amityville Horror

Cold Open:
Trick or Treating Memories
Matt’s shameful “Kooky Spooks” costume

Gift:
Solar dancing pumpkinhead decoration

Craig’s Background LP:
The Rolling Stones “Goat’s Head Soup”

Show Notes
• The cold open features clips from the old Kooky Spooks television commercial
• The third scary movie for October with standard credits and music
• The guys kind of half-ass it in terms of dressing in costume: Craig wears devil horns (Beat the Devil) and Matt wears a shirt with fish on it (Day of the Dolphin)
• Matt recalls a childhood memory when his sister scared him away from The Amityville Horror
• The second appearance of Margot Kidder and Murray Hamilton
• Craig reveals that his grandmother lived in Amityville
• Craig’s gift inspires him to quote an XTC song
• Khrezhnev makes a return appearance (initially as “Khrezjev”)
• Matt cites Stephen King’s book Danse Macabre when analyzing the subtext of the film
• Craig and Matt recall fond landline memories
• Matt’s Iggy Pop “Nightclubbing” joke is greeted by deafening silence
• Fran Neuhaus makes a fifth appearance
• Craig recalls the scariness of empty schools
• Craig was almost hit by a car after watching The Blackcoat’s Daughter

Seen It:
(Theme: Horror)
The Dead Don’t Die
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Cujo
The Invisible Man

Closing Credits:
“Jody Loves Me”

Ernesto Stinger:
“Get out!”

Episode 209: Air Bud

Cold Open:
People who claim to have a favorite movie
The envy of certainty

Gift:
Radical Sky Skydivers toy

Craig’s Background LP:
Gang of Four “Entertainment”

Show Notes
• Craig has comically short sleeves
• Matt dedicates the viewing of Air Bud to his dearly departed mother
• Khrezhnev shows up again looking for napkins
• Stu makes a return appearance as the water taxi man
• Matt proposes a more inspiring alternate ending to Air Bud
• Matt makes the dubious claim that you can go to the website and “score”
• “Tona has received the Caine scrutiny…”

Seen It:
Good Boys
Rachel Getting Married
Crossroads
Nashville

Closing Credits:
Craig refuses to comment on a Spaghetti-O dog

Ernesto Stinger:
“Aint no rule says the dog can’t play basketball”

Episode 210: The Polar Express

Cold Open:
Matt finds a dumb thing on Facebook
Charley and the Angel, High Plains Drifter and Monty Python

Gift:
E.T. Christmas ornament

Craig’s Background LP:
The Elvis Christmas Album

Show Notes
• An early Christmas episode with appropriate music and title card
• The second appearances of Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks. Third appearance of Michael Jeter.
• Craig claims that E.T. is from Narnia
• Khrezhnev shows up again to welcome The Polar Express to Leningrad
• Matt makes multiple comments about “deep ears”
• Seen It features five movies rather than the usual four
• Fran Neuhaus makes a sixth appearance

Seen It:
(Theme: Variations on Dickens)
Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol
Blackadder’s Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (1951)
The Muppet Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (2019)

Closing Credits:
More on the soul-less eyes and faces of the children

Ernesto Stinger:
“Allllll Aboard!”

Episode 211: Gaslight

Cold Open:
Enunciation
Matt’s 6th grade theater experience

Gift:
White elephant figurine

Craig’s Background LP:
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Show Notes
• The third appearance of Joseph Cotten on the show
• Craig immediately tries to gaslight himself
• Matt and Craig continually mispronounce the name of the neighbor lady, Miss Thwaite
• “Shrimp Diaz”
• Craig and Matt try out some variations of “Faster…FASTER!”
• Craig makes a sudden realization that “Seen It” should be called “Saw It”
• Seen It features DVDs sent in by viewers

Seen It:
(Theme: Mail Crate)
Moonstruck
Big Deal on Madonna Street
Bunny and the Bull
The Divorcee

Closing Credits:
Miss Thwaite mooches a strawberry

Ernesto Stinger:
“Come closer Paula, look into my eyes!”

Episode 212: The Mystery of the Leaping Fish

Cold Open:
Untrustworthy documentaries
Craig engages in finger deception

Gift:
Several packets of M&Ms

Craig’s Background LP:
The Replacements “Let it Be”

Show Notes
• The end of 2020 “Megasode” and conclusion of Season 9
• Craig’s favorite movie of the year: Speedy. Matt’s: Hairspray
• Matt threatens his plumbing
• Matt’s least favorite movie: The Polar Express. Craig’s: The Zero Theorem
• Craig briefly mentions Beach Party, a movie we watched last year
• Craig asserts that the ending of Disco Godfather might be the best scene of the year
• Matt continues to struggle with “The Mcguffin”
• Matt loves the vomiting Nun from The Amityville Horror and revists the hammy actress from Logan’s Run
• The new Hall of Fame members are inducted: Pam Grier, Anita Loos, Buck Henry, Marcel Dalio, Terence Stamp and Joseph Cotten. Non-human Hall of Famer: Dogs.
• Matt pays tribute to “one of the legends of the silent era”, Douglas Fairbanks, by choosing a rare comedy from his filmography
• The Mystery of the Leaping Fish features intertitles by newly inducted Hall of Famer Anita Loos
• As has become Megasode tradition, Matt and Craig summarize the film at the same time on the couch
• Tona sits down at the desk for the first time ever and presents a gift to Craig and his family
• Fran Neuhaus closes out the year with a wacky seventh appearance
• Matt is baffled by the choice of naming a character in the drama The Gift “Buddy Cole”, given that that is the name of a popular comedy character from The Kids in the Hall. Matt expresses similar frustration with the name of a fictional swamp in a Stephen King novel
• The final seen it of the year tradition, where the flaws of a universally beloved film are discussed, continues with Die Hard
• Craig questions the use of the word “dated”
• Matt expresses optimism for 2021

Seen It:
The Gift
Black Narcissus
La Cage Aux Folles
Die Hard

Closing Credits:
Some behind the scenes couch chatter

Ernesto Stinger:
(Vomiting Nun)