Dan and Aaron open the podcast with something we can both gush about for hours: "The Young Ones"! A 12-episode comedy from the early 80s, it exploded the possibilities of television and helped a generation of British comic actors get deservedly famous. There's a great DVD set that includes both seasons as well as episodes of "Bottom" and "Filthy, Rich, and Catflap" and a making-of documentary.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- We didn't know until after recording this that Mayall is pronounced "Mail" and not "May-all". Rest assured, we know now and are flagellating ourselves appropriately.
- We mention Ade and Nigel's play, "Vulcan-7" and hope we can see it, but they did it in 2018 and it's not likely to be available.
- Jennifer Saunders' character on "Absolutely Fabulous" (which you love, right?) is Edina, not Edna, Monsoon. Dan's mouth was going faster than his brain.

"The Young Ones" stars Ade Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle. It was written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, and Lise Mayer, with additional material by Alexei Sayle. Clips are copyright of the BBC, used for critical purposes under fair use.

Like-O-Rama 1: The Young Ones

Dan and Aaron talk about one of Dan's favorite things, "The Goon Show"! It was a 1950s BBC radio comedy that changed comedy and molded the sensibilities of an entire generation.

This will probably be the longest episode by far because Dan is obsessed with this show, despite its occasional cringe-inducing dips into racism (which we discuss).

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
We couldn't find the really impressive Fred the Oyster sound effect, so instead we included the scene where the racetrack announcer talks about the food Neddie's digesting.

We recorded this right before the protests and discussions following the murder of George Floyd, so Dan made an ignorant comment about British racism. Since then the two us of have learned that while British racism lacks the bloody history America has, black people are definitely treated worse there than people of other backgrounds, so the comparison to cultural bickering between European countries was wrong. Sorry about that.

"The Goon Show" stars Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Peter Sellers, with Ray Ellington, Max Geldray, and Wallace Greenslade. It was written by Spike Milligan, Larry Stephens, Eric Sykes, Maurice Wiltshire, and John Antrobus. Copyright held by BBC, clips used for critical purposes under fair use.

Like-O-Rama 3: The Goon Show

Aaron introduces Dan to the fascinating world of Numbers Stations, where seemingly random frequencies carry seemingly random bursts of numbers at seemingly random times. It's all very mysterious and covert. We talk about what they might be used for, how they could disrupt or be disrupted, and why governments may want to leave them alone.

Like-O-Rama 2: Numbers Stations

Dan and Aaron talk about one of their favorite rock bands, The Hives! (You are legally required to use exclamation marks when referring to The Hives!) If you don't know the name, you've probably heard their music in a commercial or action / sports montage. Trust us, you love them.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
We listed a few other 90s/00s garage bands, but here are some more to check out: The Woggles, Man or Astroman?, Mono Men, The Fleshtones, The Mortals, Satan's Pilgrims, and The Dukes of Hamburg. Some are surfier or fuzzier, but they're all super fun and great.

An excellent quote from Howlin' Pelle Almqvist about their style: "Grunge started happening and we were not interested in that at all. We liked some of that energy where there was energy, like Nirvana and stuff, but we couldn't really understand what was the problem half of the time. Being from a rough town, I think we wanted something more sort of happy to be alive, because that's how we felt when we played music."

The Hives are Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, Nicholaus Arson, Chris Dangerous, The Johan and Only (Dr. Matt Destruction on the albums), and Vigilante Carlstroem. Their songs are written by Randy Fitzsimmons except "Find Another Girl", written by Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. Clips used for critical purposes under fair use. Seriously, go buy their albums and support a fantastic band!

Like-O-Rama 5: The Hives

This week, Aaron brings a favorite industry gag of his: the Turbo Encabulator! An inside joke among engineers and other techy / mechanical people over the decades, the Turbo Encabulator is the most amazing iteration of its kind to date. We also veer off into related topics such as Darth Vader and the collaboration between Jim Henson, Raymond Scott, and IBM.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- Here's a link to "The Paperwork Explosion" on the Jim Henson Company YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZw2CoYztk

Clips used for critical purposes under fair use.

Like-O-Rama 4: The Turbo Encabulator

Dan and Aaron gush about the brilliantly stupid, trendsetting weirdo shows that Cartoon Network had starring Space Ghost, Zorak, Brak, and Moltar. From "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" to "Cartoon Planet" to "The Brak Show", it's a love letter to strange little cartoons in the middle of the night that helped pioneer Adult Swim and make the comedic landscape a little more bizarre.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
Dear Aaron,
Sorry for leaving my laptop 11-12 minutes into this episode to do something else so it sounds like I ghosted you.
Love,
Dan

At one point, Dan confused Mr. Thundercleese’s voice with the grumbling static of Metallus, so he sounds pretty confused near the end. Idiot.

We also misremembered that the “rapping space goblin” was on with Ice-T, but it was actually Chuck D. Wrong deadly serious rapper. Sorry. It’s been like 20 years since we’ve seen these shows.

The shows discussed starred George Lowe, C. Martin Croker, Andy Merrill, and Don Kennedy and were created by Mike Lazzo (SGC2C, Cartoon Planet),Keith Crofford (Cartoon Planet), Jim Fortier (Brak Show), Andy Merrill (Brak Show), and Pete Smith (Brak Show).

Copyright Cartoon Network. Clips used under Fair Use for critical purposes. “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” and “The Brak Show” are available on HBO Max. Or you can get the DVDs and albums. Seriously, do it and give these hilarious people some money.

Like-O-Rama 6: Space Ghost

Oh man. Dan and Aaron talk about the best thing ever made. Probably the greatest bringer of joy to our lives (sorry, our kids!), Mr. T's 1984 motivational video for kids, "Be Somebody...or Be Somebody's Fool!"!!! It's the best. It's your favorite.

A classic of "passing around videotapes to your friends" culture, this 51-minute tape is hilarious and corny, goofy and inspiring, but most of all it's 80s as hell. We talk about how Mr. T and this tape have improved our lives and brought us hours and hours of happiness over the decades. Mr. T is the best and if you haven't seen this video, watch it on YouTube right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv0m1YzRu4M

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
Dan said it was made in 1982, but it's 1984.

We couldn't remember the breakdancer with a "Popsicle" shirt's name. It's Popsicle. Popsicle Delfin. We're dumb.

Aaron said “Milkshake” was by Fergie instead of Kelis. Yay! He messed up instead of Dan for once! Woo hoo! In your face, Aaron!

"Be Somebody...or Be Somebody's Fool!" was written by Peter Elbling, Paul Raley, and Paul Wilson and directed by Jeff Margolis. It stars Mr. T, New Edition, The Dimples, and some surprising kids who would become big stars that we get bug eyes about in the beginning of the episode.

Copyright MCA Home Video. All clips used under Fair Use for critical purposes. If you can find a copy of this, buy it and have a great life.

Like-O-Rama 7: Mr T's Be Somebody...or Be Somebody's Fool!

Today Dan is gushing about comics writer Kelly Sue DeConnick. Most well-known for reimagining Captain Marvel as well as for her creator-owned comics Pretty Deadly and Bitch Planet, Kelly Sue is a feminist pusher of boundaries in a field long dominated by men. And even if you ignore all that, she's also just a darn good writer! She's currently wrapping up her work on Aquaman, which has garnered critical and commercial acclaim.

NOTES / DON'T @ US
I think we actually didn't screw up too badly this time!

We tried to eliminate background noise but it was raining and we have dogs and families and stuff, so long story short sorry for the background noise. Hopefully it’s atmospheric and not annoying.

At one point early on, Dan says Matt Fraction wrote the Iron Man arc that a big chunk of the movies are based on, but that was wrong. His second guess was right, that it was a certain gross dude who wrote good comics but is also gross and did gross things and we're not going to talk about him when there are way better people to talk about.

All of Kelly Sue DeConnick's comics are (obviously) written by her. Her Avengers and Captain Marvel work (art by a zillion people) is through Marvel Comics. Bitch Planet (art by Valentine De Landro) and Pretty Deadly (art by Emma Ríos) are through Image Comics. Aquaman (art by Miguel Mendonça) is through DC Comics.

Like-O-Rama 8 - Kelly Sue DeConnick

This episode, Dan goes on at great length about Buster Keaton, a truly phenomenal filmmaker and silent era comedy star. His comic imagination and the unbelievable punishment he'd put himself through in order to realize it are unmatched to this day. Almost all of his movies (as well as Roscoe Arbuckle's) are on YouTube, so go check those out!

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- For the first chunk, Dan had a mean mic that ate up the ends of some words. It was eventually beaten into submission and surrendered. Alternatively, Dan was leaving the ends off of words because he’s super cool and trendsetting.
- Aaron’s mic was also acting up, switching from mono to stereo, and Dan is dumb and doesn’t know how to fix it so enjoy the sporadic bonus sound, free of charge!
- Buster and Arbuckle's boss at UA was Joseph Schenck, not Max Schenck. Schenck went on to co-found and run 20th Century Fox and also go to prison for tax evasion. Classic movie mogul.
- Roscoe Arbuckle died the night after signing the second contract of his comeback, not the first. It was his first contract for feature-length pictures.
- Dan said the animated / live action short "You Ought to Be in Pictures" starred Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, but it was Porky Pig and Daffy. His brain meant that, but his mouth was playing a cruel prank on him. Whadda maroon! Also, that wasn’t the first mixture of live action and animation. There were lots. Google it! They’re neat!

The clips are from 1) "Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath" (MGM), 2-3) "Grand Slam Opera" (Educational Pictures), and 4) "Mooching Through Georgia" (Columbia Pictures).

Like-O-Rama 10 - Buster Keaton

This week, Aaron brings us the ginormous genre of giant robots, aka mecha! From its origins in Japanese cartoons and live action sci-fi, to its trek across the Pacific and subsequent reinvention as toy commercials, to its 90s era of...well, horniness. We talk about Astroboy, Ultraman, Gundam, kaiju robots, Transformers, Voltron, Mazinger Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Pacific Rim, and about a million other shows and why they all rule.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- I think we nailed it! But then, it's Dan typing this and I don't know anything about mecha except that the Soundwave toy was rad, so maybe Aaron screwed up real bad. If he did, don't @ us!

Like-O-Rama 9 - Giant Robots

Aaron takes us on a wild ride through the world of ground effect vehicles! He also explains what those are, so don't worry. We go into the Lun-Class Ekranoplan, the Bartini Beriev, and the Alexiev A-90 Orlyonok. These are low-flying, bizarre-looking monstrosities that adhere to the laws of physics and then go crazy. Do yourself a favor and look them up, preferably when they appear in the show so you can share Dan's shock and delight.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- Early on, Aaron talks about planes landing and what they do in the last few hundred miles. Obviously, he meant feet, yards, or meters. Something sensible.
- If you like this sort of thing, go over to Reddit. There are subreddits dedicated to all kinds of specific vehicles. One is r/weirdwings, which is an offshoot of r/weirdwheels. Both are just pictures of strange planes / cars. Good, clean fun.

Like-O-Rama 11 - Ground Effect Vehicles

This week, Aaron tells us all about the history of satellite communications and we demonstrate that we are both the smartest guys in the world and the dumbest guys in the world. From Arthur C. Clarke's 1945 article that first proposed the idea through today's world of SpaceX and GPS, we discuss how it works and how it developed. It's fascinating stuff! Also, we crack each other with our usual goofery.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- This site has the Clarke article both as scans and plain text: http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/
- The second Aaron mentions Sputnik, Dan stops talking because he's looking up Ray Ellington singing "Beep Beep" about 19:20 into this episode of The Goon Show: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f6gsn
- We want to emphasize that it's true, Dan really did know an old dude whose uncle beat up Frank Sinatra in New Jersey before he was famous because he angered some mob guys
- And here's that awesome site where some guy named Gunter tracks upcoming space launches: https://space.skyrocket.de/

Like-O-Rama 12 - Satellite Communications

This week, Dan is talking about Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, the remarkable French general and father of the famous novelist Alexandre Dumas. He inspired much of his son's stories with his daring military adventures, experiences as a prisoner and son of a slave, and years-long feud with none other than Napoleon himself!

NOTES / DON'T @ US
- We cannot recommend Tom Reiss' biography, "The Black Count", highly enough. It really is one of the best books of the 2010s, period. It should be pretty easy to find, so read it and be immensely happy. There's way more to Dumas' story than this episode covers.
- There's a little more background noise than usual this episode. Sorry about that.

Like-O-Rama 13 - General Alexandre Dumas

This week, Dan is talking about Ernie Kovacs. Kovacs and his wife, Edie Adams, had several short-lived comedy programs in the 1950s and early 60s, on NBC, CBS, ABC, and the DuMont network. Ernie's humor was chaotic, experimental, silly, and masterful. It's one of the few programs where you really had no idea what was going to happen next.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- Most of the surviving recordings are copyright by Ediad Productions. We assume the various networks retained some rights.
- There are several terrific box sets, any of which would be a fantastic addition to your collection. Do yourself a favor and buy some Ernie Kovacs DVDs!
- Clips used under Fair Use

Like-O-Rama 14 - Ernie Kovacs

This week Aaron brings us Booker T & the MGs. They had a few big hits, most notably “Green Onions”, and were the studio band for Stax Records (aka Satellite Records). Along with other studio session bands like The Funk Brothers, The Wrecking Crew, and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, they provided the music for some of the biggest songs of the era.

We decided to start splitting the ones that go really long (such as the Buster Keaton episode), so this is part one of two. Enjoy!

NOTES / DON’T @ US:
- We got one of the Stax founders wrong. It was Estelle Axton, who was Jim Stewart’s sister. We got our wires crossed with Stewart and there being some relation between them. The rest of the anecdote was right, though. Her husband Everett didn’t factor into it.

- We never really gave an accurate account of their recording in the late 50s and early 60s. The ones we listed were mostly from the mid-to-late 60s. The Stax recordings for that period include the Veltones, Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Mar-Keys (an earlier, larger version of Booker T & the MGs), and the Chips.

- “Green Onions” is copyright Booker T & the MGs,  Stax Records and Atlantic Records. Clip used for criticism under fair use.

- The background music is “R&B Soul Music _ Rainy mood” from SoundCloud user No copyright music for you❤️. It can be found here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-909504386/no-copyright-music-rb-soul-music-rainy-mood

Like-O-Rama 15a - Booker T & the MGs

We continue our fanning out on the landmark studio musicians for Stax Records and accomplished band in their own right, Booker T & the MGs. We’re around 1970 at this point, which means more soul classics, the Blues Brothers, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and victory laps celebrating their greatness.

NOTES / DON’T @ US:
- Sorry for all the typing noises. Aaron thought Dan would edit it out and Dan thought Aaron was gonna edit it out. Our collective bads.

- Here’s that Jesse Thorn interview with Bill Withers that Dan talks about, one of the best you’ll ever hear: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/bullseye-jesse-thorn-bill-withers/

- Here's Booker T's NPR Tiny Desk Concert Aaron mentions: https://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135840639/booker-t-jones-tiny-desk-concert

- Here are the two versions of “Time is Tight” that Aaron mentions. The first is likely the original "just get it on tape" version - straightforward, no variation in tempo, just a straight beat-by-beat Booker T and the MGs song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xgn1oZucKM — the second has the organ input and a slower tempo followed by a jump in tempo when the band comes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuEKmt-w0P0

- The background music is “R&B Soul Music _ Rainy mood” from SoundCloud user No copyright music for you❤️. It can be found here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-909504386/no-copyright-music-rb-soul-music-rainy-mood

Like-O-Rama 15b - Booker T & the MGs, part 2

This week Dan overflows with joy about the charming faux-sport of Jelle's Marble Runs, a YouTube account with many, many videos where marbles compete in races and Olympic events. It is seriously the best.

Their channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJdpnjuSWVOLgGT9fIzL0g

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- The theme music is "Light Utopia" by FormantX, which they provide free of copyright and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu2mXESoiN0

- Jelle's Marble Runs is the brainchild and production of Jelle and Dion Bakker and you should support it by buying lots of shirts and hoodies and stuff.

- They also have a Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/Jelles

Like-O-Rama 16 - Jelle's Marble Runs

This week, Aaron tells us about nuclear-powered cars, trains, and planes, a weird fad in the 50s and 60s. They might seem like bad ideas, and they are! Also submarines, which turn out to be pretty good ideas.

NOTES / DON'T @ US:
- There's about 10 minutes of solid facts before Dan the Idiot takes us on nuclear-powered tangents for an hour. The conversation kept derailing. Hey, that’s a train joke! Huzzah!
- The origin of the "slap a chicken real hard to cook it" thing seems to be this Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/aqk9la/if_kinetic_energy_is_converted_into_thermal/
- The Ink Spots were a phenomenal vocal band of the 30s and 40s. Here's the song Aaron was talking about from Fallout at the beginning, "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6vqPUM_FE
- Sorry we kept knocking into the mics while we talked. We're just so CA-RAZY and out of control! Whoaaaa!!!!!

Like-O-Rama 17 - Nuclear Vehicles

Dan and Aaron are old friends from high school. Now they're graying dads with real life problems, so they call each other and talk about awesome stuff. You'll probably like that stuff, too.