The Worst of All Possible Worlds

226 - Kingdom Hearts (feat. Lucy Valentine)

Lucy Valentine (Boonta Vista, Savant-Garde) and the lads hop in their Gummi Ship and make for Hollow Bastion as they cover the infamous Square and Disney RPG crossover of 2002: Kingdom Hearts. Topics include Tetsuya Nomura’s incredible character designs, the dated gameplay, and what it means to create a game where Donald Duck is seduced by a gorilla.

Lucy Valentine: Bluesky

Boonta Vista: The least consequential news from around the world from the least informed minds in Australia. Andrew, Theo, Lucy and Ben bring you the week’s stories that conveniently fit into one of their countless, concerningly specific segments. Keep up with the latest news from Nature Corner, Paging Dr. Lucy, Planely Speaking, Omens and Portents, The Hole Report and many, many more.

• Patreon // Website // Merch // Spotify // Apple Podcasts

Savant-Garde: Hosted by Lucy Valentine (Boonta Vista) and Jesse Black (Sludgefest). Savant-Garde is almost certainly the world’s only podcast where one autistic ex-wife and one OCD ex-husband unpack the disgracefully disordered worlds of Adrian Monk and the Good Doctor, Shaun Murphy, through the lens of two very normal brains.

• Patreon // Instagram // Spotify // Apple Podcasts

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Kingdom Hearts. Dir. Tetsuya Nomura. 2002
• The Collaborative History of Disney & Square Enix to the Development of Kingdom Hearts by Evan “ScooterNape” Phillips. Reddit.
• TGS 2004: Tetsuya Nomura Q&A by Anoop Gantayat. IGN. Updated June 30th, 2016.
• Iwata Asks: Nintendo 3DS Vol. 12: Dream Drop Distance.

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Kingdom Hearts 4.3 Prologue: A Maritime Fragment: H(earts). M(inds). S(ora). Titanic Trailer (Version 1.5)” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. A.J. Ditty as “Sora/Donald/Goofy/Billy Zane/Mickey/Announcer”, David Armstrong as “Winnie the Pooh/Eeyore/Fabrizio/Shipmaster/Jack”, and Eleanor Philips as “Rose/Margaret”

225 - Trading Places (feat. Justin Roczniak)

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

Justin Roczniak (Well There’s Your Problem) joins the lads in Philly for a good old fashioned rags-to-riches and riches to rags switcheroo as they cover John Landis’ 1983 Eddie Murphy-fest: Trading Places. Topics include the joys of seeing your hometown on screen, the rapid rise of Eddie Murphy, and what it means to have a movie where the climax entails the future price of frozen orange juice.

Justin Roczniak: Twitter // Youtube // Bluesky

Well There’s Your Problem is a podcast about engineering disasters and systemic failures, from a leftist perspective, with jokes.

• Youtube / Twitter / Instagram / Patreon
• Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts

 

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Trading Places. Dir. John Landis. 1983.
• “It's The 30-Year Anniversary Of The Greatest Wall Street Movie Ever Made: Here's The Story Behind It” by Rob Wile. Business Insider. June 27th, 2013.
• AFF At Home: Comedy Q&A with Herschel Weingrod. May 4th, 2020.

 

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Harry Hypemen Inc.” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. A.J. Ditty as “Harry Hypeman/Werner B/Announcer”, Brian Alford as “Horace Hypeman/Werner A”, David Armstrong as “Holden Hypeman/Werner C”

224 - Angels in the Whitfield (feat. Tom O’Mahony) [Whit’s Endless Summer 49]

Tom O’Mahony (Lions Led by Donkeys, Beneath the Skin, Bloodwork) joins the lads in Odyssey for further adventures in tower construction, child death dreams, and what happens when an honest to God ANGEL comes to town. Topics include the myth of the Tower of Babel, the brain soup of Phil Lollar, and what it means to believe that incredibly attractive men in very expensive suits are constantly watching your every move.

Tom O’Mahony: Bluesky // Instagram

BLOOD WORK: A podcast about the economy of violence.

Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Patreon // Bluesky // Instagram

Beneath the Skin: A podcast chronicling the interconnected history of the world through the complicated history of tattooing. Hosted by Art History professor, museum curator, and tattoo historian Dr. Matt Lodder, and podcast producer, and tattoo collector Thomas O’Mahony. The show is trying to tell the history of tattooing as it interweaves with politics, society, and the weirdest corners of the world. So why don’t you join us, and take a journey beneath the skin.

Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Patreon // Bluesky // Instagram

Lions Led By Donkeys: A military history podcast for laughing at the worst military failures, inept commanders, and crazy stories from throughout the history of human conflict.

Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Patreon // Bluesky // Instagram

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Adventures in Odyssey
• #416 - “The Tower”
• #144 - “Someone to Watch Over Me”
• #406-408 - “Malachi’s Message, Parts 1-3”

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Three Guys, A Bear, and A Burger Place” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. Brian Alford as “Alistair Adelman”, A.J. Ditty as “Melvin/Estragon/Phoebear”, and Josh Boerman as “Timmy ‘Taxman’ Thompson”

223 - A Thief In The Night II: The Me2al Age: 2 A 2 Distant 2 Thunder

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

The lads return to the New Year just in time for the end of the world as they kick off their annual Rapture Ranuary with a follow up to one of the most influential Christian films of all time: A Thief in the Night: A Distant Thunder. Topics include the origins of premillennial dispensationalism, the trustworthiness of mustaches, and what it means to be shaped by a world view where you live in constant fear of the U.N. beheading you with a guillotine.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• A Distant Thunder. Dir. Donald W. Thompson. 1978.
• Evangelical Millenialism in the trans-Atlantic world 1500-2000 by Crawford Gribben
• Judgement Day by Joshua Hill Foster
• Mine Eyes have Seen the Glory by Randall Ballmer
• Raptured by Ernest Angley
• That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
• The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsay
• Titan, Son of Saturn: The Coming World Emperor: A Story of the Other Christ by Joseph Birkbeck Burroughs
• Writing the Rapture by Crawford Gribben
• ReligionfForBreakfast: the origins of the rapture
• ReligionForBreakfast: Who are the 144,000 in the book of Revelation
• The Bart Ehrman Blog: The Community Behind the Gospel of John

 

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Slasher Jesus” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. A.J. Ditty as “Announcer/Jesus/Big Al”, David Armstrong as “Flurk/Mayor”, and Eleanor Philips as “Timmy/Reporter” // Music: “Something’s Not Right” by Lucas Quinn Creations

59 UNLOCKED - Chess: The Musical (feat. Jake Beckhard)

Time to reach once more into the ol' Cool Vaultaire. If you still can’t get enough Chess, check out our BRAND NEW BOBUS (with Jake!) about the new Broadway revival on our Patreon here.

Jake Beckhard (Blue Balls NYCFC) challenges the lads to the match of the century as they try to outmaneuver the bopping songs and confounding political intrigue of the infamous Tim Rice/Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus flop musical: Chess. Topics include the many different versions of the show, the innate appeal of a broken musical, and the ever increasing eccentricities of one Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice.

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to the rest of this episode, our full back catalogue of premium and bonus episodes, and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Jake Beckhard

• Website: jake-beck.com

• Bluesky: @jakebeckhard.bsky.social

• Instagram: @jakebeckhard

Blue Balls NYCFC: You’ve got Blue Balls! How lucky for you. Check in every week for rapturous pod talk on all things NYCFC. With NYC Hosts Jake Beckhard and Trey Fillmore.

• Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Podomatic

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Get Onto My Cloud: The Tim Rice Podcast: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts

• “Chess Seeks to Shed Its Checkered Past” by Stephen Holden, NYTimes

• Chess (1986 London Concept Cast): Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon

• Chess In Concert (2008): AppleTV / YouTube / Letterboxd

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: brendan-dalton.com / brendandalton.bandcamp.com

187 UNLOCKED - Sky King: The Story of Richard Russell (feat. Caleb from Kill The Computer)

Caleb @BirdRespecter (Kill The Computer, 60 Minute Drill) joins Brian and Josh to tell the story of Richard “Beebo” Russell, a man who walked off his job as a baggage handler at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport one day in 2018 to steal an airplane. Russell and his ill-fated flight quickly became a cause célèbre among some of the darkest corners of the internet, continuing to this day. This episode tries to figure out how and why that happened.

Note: This episode deals with suicide and racist extremism.

Caleb: Bluesky // Twitter // Linktree

Kill The Computer: June and Caleb talk about the ways in which internet culture spills out into the real world; good and bad. Patreon // Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Bluesky // YouTube

Media referenced this episode:

• “The Sky Thief: Beebo Russell’s Last Flight” by Tim Dickinson. Rolling Stone, June 24, 2021.

• “I Worked With Richard Russell at Horizon Air, and I Understand Why He Did What He Did” by Todd Bunker. The Stranger, August 17, 2018.

• “‘Airplane of opportunity’? Richard Russell raised pilot’s suspicions a year before Sea-Tac plane heist” by Lewis Kamb. The Seattle Times, September 12, 2018.

• “Sea-Tac air traffic controller faced ‘one in a million’ scenario with stolen plane” by Daniel Beekman and Michelle Baruchman. The Seattle Times, August 11, 2018.

• “FBI: Richard Russell, who stole plane from Sea-Tac, acted alone, crashed on purpose; motive a mystery” by Lewis Kamb. The Seattle Times, November 9, 2018.

• “Human remains, flight data recorder found among wreckage of stolen plane on Ketron Island” by Stacia Glenn. The News Tribune, August 13, 2018.

• “Airline job was way for man who crashed stolen plane to visit Alaska” by Adam Lynn, Alexis Krell, Sue Kidd, Lauren Smith and Craig Sailor. The News Tribune, August 12, 2018.

• “White nationalists and the ‘Sky King’” by Martin McKenzie-Murray. The Saturday Paper, August 18, 2018.

• FBI press release on investigation from November 2018

• Redacted FBI report from the investigation

Music used in this episode:

• Anticipation by Drill Folly

• Lookin’ For That Orca (Beebo’s Song) by Johny Maudlin

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: The first seven pages of “The Hidden Enemy,” written and performed by Josh Boerman with music by Sean Callery from 24

222 - 2025: A Year In Review

It is time once again for our cherished annual tradition: taking calls from listeners and guests, then stitching them together with your favorite moments from the year. (Plus, very special messages from A.J., Brian, and Josh starting at the 1:51:02 mark.)

Thanks to everyone who called in, and hold on for 2026. We will find a way.

221 - The Muppet Christmas Carol

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ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE THROUGH 12/31

The lads grab their tiny red scarves and head for Fozziwig’s Rubber Chicken Factory as they cover Brian Henson’s 1992 holiday classic: The Muppet Christmas Carol. Topics include the arch prose of Dickens, the cutting of “When Love is Gone”, and what it means to create a staple of the holiday season that involves Michael Caine throwing a wreath at a tiny puppet.

 

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• The Muppet Christmas Carol. Dir. Brian Henson. 1992.
• “Michael Caine Loves The Muppet Christmas Carol as Much as You Do” by Laruen Larson. GQ. December 15th, 2016.
• “Brian Henson on What Makes ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’ So Special and His Father’s legacy” by Alyssa Fikse. Uproxx. December 23rd, 2015.
• “How we made: The Muppet Christmas Carol” by Ben Beaumont-Thomas. The Guardian. December 21st, 2015.

 

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

 

Interstitial: “A Letter from Charles Dickens to His Son, Edward ‘Plorn’ Dickens, on the Day of His Departure to Australia, September 26th, 1868" // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. Brian Alford as “Charles Dickens” // Additional Text by Charles Dickens in a Letter to his son, Plorn

220 - Death Stranding 2 (feat. Workers’ Lit)

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Jacob and Lenore of Workers’ Lit join the lads down under for some ghost busting and coffin surfing as they cover Hideo Kojima’s 2025 delivery simulator: Death Stranding 2. Topics include the unmatchable gameplay loop, the polarity of Dollman, and the horrors lurking under the surface of a game where evil is defeated through the power of dance.

BUY JACOB’S BOOK HERE

Workers’ Lit: A podcast about books and the news with Lenore, Aysha, Jen, and Jacob. Books/Culture episodes on Mondays! News/Politics episodes on Wednesdays! Read good books, tell bad jokes, and fight for a better future!

• Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Youtube // Bluesky

Media Referenced in the Episode:

• Death Stranding 2. Kojima Productions. 2025.

• TWOAPW #104: Death Stranding (feat. Drew Toothpaste)

• Ladscast 13: Somehow, More Death Stranding

• Workers’ Lit: “On The Beach, ft. Brian Alford”

• Hideo Kojima presents Brain Structure #15 Hideo Kojima x TGA Special: DEATH STRANDING [ENGLISH]

• “Hideo Kojima on ‘Death Stranding 2,’ the Sequel’s Big Changes and Improvements Post-Pandemic, and How He Hoped to Cast David Lynch in a Game” by Nick Newman. Indiewire. August 7th, 2025.

• “Hideo Kojima on How His Illness Affected ‘Death Stranding 2,’ Developing A24 Film Adaptation and Why His Collaboration With GU Is About More Than Fashion” by Jennifer Maas. Variety. June 19th, 2025.

• “Hideo Kojima Says Death Stranding’s Now Had Over 20 Million Players and The Fact Folk Are Still Playing ‘Makes Me the Happiest’” by Rich Stanton. PC Gamer. April 2025.

• https://liberationnews.org/child-labor-in-alabamas-hyundai-supply-plants/

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “A Message from Tobogganman, Prime Minister of the Canadian Autonomous Network of Underground Cities” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. David Armstrong as “Tobogganman”

219 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (feat. Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry)

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

MERCHANDISE NOW ON SALE THROUGH 12/31

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE THROUGH 12/31

Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry (Night in the Woods) join the lads aboard the Demeter and double back to Transylvania as they cover Francis Ford Coppola’s vampiric 1992 fever dream: Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Topics include the gorgeous aesthetics, the terrors of Gary Oldman, and what it means to create a movie that can only be described as CINNNEEEMMMMAAAA!!!!

Scott Benson: Bluesky // Instagram

Bethany Hockenberry: Bluesky // Instagram

Night in the Woods

Night in the Woods Merch

Media Referenced in this Episode:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. 1992.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (published 1897)
Bram Stoker's Dracula. Williams. Designer Barry Oursler. 1993

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Tom Waits” // Written and Performed by A.J. Ditty // Music: “Grapefruit Moon” by Tom Waits.