The Worst of All Possible Worlds

131 - MASH (1970)

The lads hop in a chopper and get into some morally dubious hijinks as they cover Robert Altman’s 1970 war/frat house comedy that inspired one of the most well-regarded TV shows of all time: M*A*S*H. Topics include Eliot Gould’s mustache, rampant 70s misogyny, and what it means to live in a country that can only define itself by settler conquest.

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

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• M*A*S*H. Dir. Robert Altman. 20th Century Fox. 1970.
• Golden Rainbow 1968 Tony Award Performance
• Looking Back, 1952: York doctors join war effort
• middle school 9/11 tribute dance
• Mash The Movie Backstory
• MASH: A Story About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker. William Morrow. 1968.
• Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) - American Helicopter Museum & Education Center
• “Richard Hornberger” by Variety Staff. Variety. Nov. 19th, 1997.
• “Robert Altman on Being The 15th Director Cast To Make MASH”

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

Commercial: “The 4077th Morning Announcements”

130 - Heaven is for Real (feat. Radio Free Tote Bag)

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

This week, Josh and Brian are joined by Radio Free Tote Bag as they take the next direct flight straight to God’s Throne. We discuss the history of books about heaven, the Near-Death Experience community, and the many thrills of saying “Burpo” over and over again.

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

Radio Free Tote Bag is a weekly relationship advice podcast hosted by Audrey and Donovan. Patreon // Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Twitter // Instagram

Data Transfer - Apple Podcasts // Spotify

Audrey Brehm - Twitter 

Donovan Eyre - Twitter 

Media Referenced in this episode:

• Where is Colton Burpo Now? - Pureflix
• Interview with Kevin Malarkey
• I Did Not Die. I Did Not Go to Heaven. - Slate Magazine
• John Wesley as Dream Reader - Pawel Rutkowski
• Colton Burpo on Ordinary Discussions
• Interview with Todd and Colton Burpo
• The Burpos on Marilyn and Sarah
• IMDb - Heaven is for Real
• Near-Death Experience Research Foundation

 

129 - Blackgaard Begins (feat. Devon) [Whit’s Endless Summer #33]

Devon (Kill James Bond!) becomes an Odyssian convert as they and the lads journey to Odyssey for further adventures in vandalism, charge cards, and the impending return of the Devious Dutchman himself: Regis Blackgaard. Topics include New York solo shows, the proper way to cook a Chansey, and what it means to be the only pirate in a gang of roaming middle-schoolers.

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

Devon: Twitter // Bluesky // Streaming

Kill James Bond! is a comedy film review/pop culture commentary podcast about the eponymous English spy, James Bond. November Kelly, Abigail Thorn, and Devon watch a different Bond movie every fortnight in an attempt to give 007 the socialist, feminist comeuppance he so richly deserves. Free episodes are released every fortnight on all major podcast platforms and bonus episodes are released for supporters on Patreon on the interstitial weeks.

• Website / Twitter / Patreon
• Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts

Trashfuture is a podcast about business success and making yourself smarter with the continued psychic trauma of capitalism.

• Website / Twitter / Patreon
• Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts

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

Ten Thousand Posts: A show about how everything is a form of posting, and how our lives are guided by the only dialectic that matters: good posts and bad posts.

• Podcast // Twitter // Patreon

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Adventures in Odyssey

• • #323: A Little Credit, Please
  • #324: Small Fires, Little Pools
  • #325: Angels Unaware
  • #326: Gathering Thunder

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

Commercial: “Patrick Smother’s Plumber Brothers”

128 - Supermarket Sweep

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

The lads grab their carts and make straight for the turkeys as they cover four iterations of one of America’s favorite game shows: Supermarket Sweep. Topics include the history of supermarkets, the insidiousness of Whammies, and the difficulties of weaponizing 90s nostalgia in the turbulent world of the 2020s.

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!

 

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Supermarket Sweep
• January 17th, 1967
• October 4th, 1991
• Nancy & Kathy vs. Ron & Dru vs. Keah & Micki (1993)
• Marina & Tim vs Stephanie & Cyndee vs Vanessa & Dustin (2001)
• The New Supermarket Sweep 2020 (Season 2 Episode 7): Don't Be Twerking On My Show!

• Supermarket Sweep - SNL

• “An Oral History Of 'Supermarket Sweep' And Its Surprising Shelf Life” by Matthew Jacobs. Huffpost. July 31, 2020.
• “The Surprising Way a Supermarket Changed the World” by Ashley Ross. Time. September 9th, 2016.
• The Edsel Show - CBS-TV (October 13, 1957)

 

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

 

Commercial: “Wife-B-Gone”

127 - Death Beconnies Her [Whit’s Endless Summer #32]

The lads return to Odyssey for further adventures in disability, grief, and how to solve a love triangle when the third point is Jesus Christ. Topics include the edification of the disabled, Bill Kendall’s penchant for cruises, and how to properly mourn the loss of a loved one like a good, honest Christian.

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

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Adventures in Odyssey
  • #318: A Touch of Healing, Part 1
  • #319: A Tough of Healing, Part 2
  • #320: Where is Thy Sting?
  • #322: The Turning Point

 

This your first Whit’s Endless Summer? Here’s the story so far!

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

Commercial: “Dr. Oswald Oliver, M.D.” feat. Brendan Dalton as “318".

126 - Reds (feat. Jake Beckhard and Andy Boyd)

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

Jake Beckhard and Andy Boyd (Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist) join the lads as they head on back to the U.S.S.R. to cover Warren Beatty’s 1981 communist blockbuster: Reds. Topics include the brilliance of Diane Keaton, the terrifying smoochability of Eugene O’Neill, and how to make art in a world teetering on the edge of revolution.

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!

Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist - Tickets // Instagram

Jake Beckhard - Website // Twitter // Instagram

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

Andy Boyd: Website // NPX // Instagram // Better Than Shakespeare Podcast

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Reds. Dir. Warren Beatty. 1981.
• Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany by Stephen Sondheim. Penguin Random House. 2011.
• O’Neill: Son and Playwright by Louis Sheaffer. Little, Brown, and Company. 1968.
• “Thunder on the Left” by Peter Biskind. Vanity Fair. January 22nd, 2007.

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

Commercial: “‘Goodbye For Now’ Demos” feat. David Armstrong as “Stephen Sondheim”.

125 - Airplane! (feat. Bernie Wagenblast)

The voice of the NYC Subway Bernie Wagenblast (Cranford Radio, ITE Talks Transportation) and the lads conquer their drinking problems and call each other Shirley as they cover the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedy blockbuster Airplane!. Topics include the film’s incredible joke variety, the brilliance of Leslie Nielsen, and what it means to like gladiator movies and have seen a grown man naked in the year of our LORD 2024.

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

Bernie Wagenblast: Twitter // Instagram // TikTok

Cranford Radio presents the sounds and voices of Cranford, New Jersey. Hosted by Bernie Wagenblast. Available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify

ITE Talks Transportation is a collaboration between ITE and Bernie Wagenblast, founder and editor of the Transportation Communication Newsletter and host of Transportation Radio. Each month, a new podcast features a thought leader within the transportation industry. In keeping with #transportationtuesday, a new episode will be available the 4th Tuesday of every month. Available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify

The Stream by AASHTO explores environmental topics important to people involved in transportation and infrastructure programs. Available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify

The Transport Communications Newsletter

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Airplane! Dir. by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker. Paramount Pictures. 1980.
• Bernie Wagenblast, the voice of NYC subways, finding her true voice after sharing her transition by CBS.
• "Finger Flickin' Funny" by Rich Markey. UW Alumni Magazine, Spring 2007.
• “How We Made: Airplane!” by Simon Bland. The Guardian. May 25th, 2020.
• “Short Takes : Airport Announcer Is No Star” by the Los Angeles Times. Jan. 7th. 1991.
• Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! by David Zuker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zuker. St. Martin’s Publishing Group. 2023.

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

124 - Alan Wake II

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

My name is Alan Wake. I’m a writer. Two years ago, three “critics” from The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast decided to slander my good name and drag my first game through the mud. Now, they’ve Returned from their previous Departure and have fully Initiated themselves into my torment anew. Will they dub me the Champion of Light? Or cast me off as the Herald of Darkness? Only one thing’s for sure: Stephen King once wrote “Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger.” He said this before snorting three lines of cocaine and trying to fight a bus. He would later go on to marry that bus in a private ceremony in Maine. This marriage was quickly annulled when everyone involved realized you cannot marry a bus. I married Alice, a human woman. I know this because I know the difference between a woman and a bus. That’s why I famously wrote the line: “It’s not a woman, it’s a bus.”

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!

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Alan Wake II. Remedy Entertainment. 2023.
• 13 Minutes of Alan Wake 2 GAMEPLAY (Unreleased). Polygon. 2016.
• Alan Wake 2 Announcement: World Premiere Trailer and Interview. The Game Awards, 2021.
• “Sam Lake and the Remedy Team shine a light on what it takes to make games like Alan Wake 2”. BAFTA, 2024.
• “Sisu: A Word that Explains Finland” by Hudson Strode Professor of English, University of Alabamapenguin (sic), Bonney-Elisofon, Solbelman and Black Star. NYTimes. Jan. 14th, 1940.

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

Commercial: “The Hydraulic Press Channel”

29 UNLOCKED - Alan Wake (feat. Jack Gilbert)

My name is Alan Wake. I’m a writer. Three podcasters and their friend, Jack Horton Gilbert, played through my story and talked about it for three hours. What followed was wild and dark and weird, even by my standards. Stephen King once said, “My wife and kids won’t touch a pizza with anchovies on it. But I like anchovies.“* I think about that all the time.

Jack’s Monologue:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbtRwqPlZKp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

TWOAPW Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/WorstOfAll

Theme by Brendan Dalton
www.brendan-dalton.com
https://brendandalton.bandcamp.com

*Greene, Andy. “Stephen King: The Rolling Stone Interview” https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/stephen-king-the-rolling-stone-interview-191529/

123 - Sleep No More (feat. Dara Swisher)

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

Dara Swisher (Here I Am) and the lads grab their masks and book a stay at the McKittrick Hotel as they dive into the deep secrets and complicated legacy of the industry-defining immersive theater piece: Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More. Topics include the history of immersive theater, the seductive appeal of tracksuits, and the eternal battle between the production of theater and the monolith of real estate.

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!

Dara Swisher: Twitter // Instagram

HERE I AM: Website // Tickets // Instagram

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Sleep No More. Punchdrunk. Dir. Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle. 2011.
• The Tragedie of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• Rebecca. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. United Artists, 1940.
• On the History of Immersive Theater:

• Dionysis in ‘69: Full Film by Brian de Palma. 1970.
• “Drag, Disco, and the Donkey” by James Montaño. Howlround Theatre Commons. October 23rd, 2019.
• “El Teatro Campesino: Our History”
• Hell House. Dir. Alex Timbers. 2006.
• F I N D H I M
• “In 1901, you could pay 50 cents to ride an airship to the Moon” by Ron Miller. Gizmodo, May 31st, 2012.
• “So Long Ago, I Can’t Remember” Review by Neil Genzlinger. NYTimes, April 20th, 2001.

• Sleep No More Resources/Articles:
• Sleep No More Synopsis
• Sleep No More Story Chart
• Felix Barrett on Sleep No More by BUILD Series.
• “Meet Emursive, The Company Behind 'Sleep No More,' The Off-Broadway Production That's Been Sold Out For Three Years” by Hollie Slade. Forbes. March 19th, 2014.
• “Performers and Staffers at ‘Sleep No More’ Say Audience Members Have Sexually Assaulted Them” by Amber Jamieson. Buzzfeed News. Feb 6th, 2018.
• “Sleep No More: From Avant Garde Theatre To Commercial Blockbuster” by Alexis Soloski. The Guardian. March 31st, 2015.
• “Sleep No More to Close in January” by Alexis Soloski. NYTimes. November 8th, 2023.
• “‘Sleep No More’ Venue Gets $27M Refi From Signature” by Matt Grossman. Commercial Observer. May 8th, 2018.

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

Commercial: “An Evening at The McKittrick Hotel with Detective Rupert Cadell”