Episode 31- The Real Ghostbusters

As the air turns crisps and people start putting cooky faces on pumpkins, it can only mean one thing- we have to check our episodes from last year to figure out how we do Halloween episodes. And this time, we do Halloween with The Real Ghost Busters (the space is canonical, look it up!) and the episode "When Halloween Was Forever."

In this episode, we are playing a man (or WO-man, as it is) short, but we do our best to make up for it by talking about more nonsense than usual. We discuss the origin of Halloween, how Dan Aykroyd wasn't that fat in 1984, the punctuation needed to find the true meaning of the lyrics of "Walking on Sunshine", how terrible Roger Moore's Bond films are (KANANGA IS INFLATED TO DEATH!!!), whether or not you should be eating Creepy Crawlers (answer: no) and we go in depth on the honors bestowed at the annual Fart Expo (that's why Andrea isn't with us.)

We also get booked with two interviewees, one on purpose, the episode's antagonist and spirit of Halloween, Samhain as well as the easy-to-mistake-for-Samhain, Hollywood screenwriter Sam Hamm. But they get along and it's a terrific interview.

As the episode intro says, if you want to help spread the word of our show, vote for #7 "Wormy Autumn Nights" in the Flophouse Song of the Autumn Contest!

Thanks for listening! As ever, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. And you can do the Twitter stuff @SMDGpodcast and Facebook stuff. And I'm sure other stuff not related to this show.

And, as always, you can watch the episode right here! At least until copyright law is exercised and this becomes a dead link!

Episode 30- Columbo Jr

On this week's episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip, we watched a true rarity- the much beloved but oft forgotten animated gem - Columbo Jr. That's right, Hollywood allowed the fantastic team up of Hanna Barbera and the late, great Peter Falk  and produced a Saturday morning cartoon based on LA's best homicide detective and his precocious nephew.

In this go-round, we talked about what the Harlem Globetrotters really sound like, the ins and outs of pun making, how much baseball Steve Harvey does not actually play, and words that rhyme with "brooms". There are many of those. You know what else can be called "many?" The number of guest stars this episode had- Phyllis Diller, Charles Bronson and even a time-traveling Eleanor Roosevelt- all the kids' faves!

For our interview segment ("Conversations with Stars!") we have our very first four hander, as we were visited by Lt. Columbo, the titular Columbo Jr., Mrs. Columbo and even their dog, Dog (the most adorable of all Columbos and the best at rolling over).  Through some hard-hitting investigative journalism, we learn about gambling mishaps involving the lacrosse team at Columbo Jr.'s elementary school. And we also discover that the Columbos lived next door to a young Steve Wozniak. Just a typical interview in SMDG-land.

Once again, thanks for tuning in! If you're looking to kill some time, think about heading over to iTunes and subscribing to our show. If that isn't time consuming enough, consider writing a review! If time has seemingly stopped, you might as well listen to this episode again on Stitcher. And if you want to complain about why there are so many empty hours in one single day, feel free to direct any rants towards @SMDGpodcast or leave any comments on our Facebook page.

We'd invite you to watch this episode, but for SOME REASON, it's not on YouTube...

Episode 29- Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers

After a short summer break, SMDG is back and we treated ourselves to a cartoon that is made by people who had bother resources and evident desire to make a quality program, the fine folks who brought us Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, a show that feels like it should have a colon or a possessive in the title, but doesn't! And it's Tim's favorite RR episode, "The Case of the Cola Cult" (it's because of this song right here.)

In this episode, we discover the startling similarities between NBC sitcom Wings and Rescue Rangers, we pitch a second cartoon Earth vs Orphans (the premise of which you'll never guess), the stage magic of Dracula, Andrea's fatigue leading her to say things that do not fit into any sort of context, Giancarlo's love of wearing a bowtie and breakaway pants, and the most Michael Winslow discussion since probably his parents talked about naming him "Michael" or "Foley Artist".

We also are visited by Pop Top, the leader of the titular Cola Cult, and learn about his other dealings with cults, soda-based and non-soda-based. 

Please enjoy before the date on printed on the bottom of this can of podcast! Subscribe on iTunes and maybe write a review! Or listen on Stitcher and do the review thing there! You could also like us on Facebook and follow on Twitter @SMDGpodcast. You can do a lot of things.

And below you'll find the episode, at least until Disney exercises it's copyright!

Episode 28- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

For this week's Saturday Morning Death Grip, to the delight of everyone but a deeply indifferent Andrea, we watched an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, "Convicts from Dimension X." And for that, we can also be considered heroes (though sadly we are not in half-shells). 

Should you decide to hit "play," you'll be treated to VERY accurate impressions of absent co-host Sean, the wonders of animation glitches in which one turtle's voice exits a different turtle's mouth, revelations about how Mickey Rooney was the original Splinter and the origins of everyone's favorite cartoon, Nursing Home X.

As if all that ear candy wasn't enough, our guest this week was none other than Sklarg, a character you totally remember, one of the aforementioned convicts from Dimension X. Listen as Sklarg adds some flair to the SMDG office (hint: it involves bullets) and goes into graphic, unnecessary detail regarding sex on Dimension X. You will NEVER guess what's involved.

Thanks for tuning in! You can enjoy turtle power, by which we mean our show, if you subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, like on Facebook, follow on Twitter @SMDGpodcast and all of that jazz. Cowabunga, dudes. That phrase seems devoid of all meaning.

Finally, if you have at least 25-minutes (give or take a minute), consider watching the episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles posted below.  It just so happens to be the episode we watched!  Double fancy!

Live Show Videos- PLAY ALONG AT HOME!

For our live episode, we watched a lot of clips, and those clips include a lot of visual things that you might not really get just by listening. So a kindly gentleman uploaded all the clips to YouTube and posted them here, with some gentle commentary. The links to the original episodes are in the descriptions, so if you're not terrified by the clips, head on over and have a listen. They're entertaining! I promise!

Bots Masters

Giancarlo picked Bots Masters, and we still talk to him. The rest of are exceptionally kind.

The opening to this show is insane. It is noise, it's chaos, it's supposed to introduce you to the world of the show. Instead, it melts your brain. If you follow any of this, you should seek immediate medical attention.

Episode 27- SMDG Live!

Our long plugged, much anticipated live show came and went on July 12. We had a warm yet intimate (gross) audience come out and join us, and we appreciate it! We were also joined by Pete Lepage (Comic Book Club Live).

This episode's format was a tiny bit different, as rather than review a single episode of anything, we pulled some of the most insane clips from the shows we've reviewed. If you go right here, you can view the clips (at least until the corporate tyranny of rights holders takes them down because we're a really money making operation here, and those clips are pure gold, I tells ya!) You can hear the audio in the episode, but obviously a lot is visual. 

So on this episode, we talk about those clips. We learn Giancarlo might have invented a whole channel in his brain to air Bots Master, Helen Keller is to be envied when it comes to some of these shows. We review how Blondie feels about Dagwood. We had a contest to discover the joke in the live interstitials from Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N' Wrestling. And we found an exclusive outtake from an unused moment in Masters of the Universe.

Thanks, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, like on Facebook, follow on Twitter @SMDGpodcast, other social media stuff and whatnots. 
Thanks!

Episode 26- "My Little Pony Tales"

In this week’s episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip, the gang is once again tortured by another of Giancarlo’s terrible suggestions – My Little Pony Tales.  At this point, we’re relatively certain that Giancarlo’s entire being goes against the Geneva Convention.  And, as soon as this post goes live, we will look into having him charged with some war crimes.

Fortunately, while we’re getting Giancarlo deported to The Hague, you can feast your ears on scintillating discussions regarding horse menstruation, the origins of Plessy vs. Ferguson and the (obvious) sex appeal of centaurs.  You’d be surprised how easy it was for us to string together such seemingly disparate topics (actually, if you’re an avid listener, you would not)!

Additionally, our interview segment features the illustrious Rita HAYworth and Mr. C. Biscuit, the Oprah and Sumner Redstone of the horse and pony media world.  Despite having a bevy of Cable Ace awards under their saddles, they clearly have very little understanding of how the human world interacts with horses.  And, spoiler alert: one of them has major gastrointestinal issues (hint: it’s Rita).

Thanks so much for listening!  Once again, you can stream SMDG via iTunes, Stitcher or our own lovely little website right here. And if our blog and podcast leave you salivating for more, you can follow us on Twitter @SMDGpodcast.

Finally, if you’d like to make the rest of your life seem downright amazing, feel free to watch this episode of My Little Pony Tales posted below.