This week, comedian, writer, and actor John Ross Bowie (Speechless) joins Howard and Kulap to celebrate six years of charting! John tells of an acting coach to be reckoned with and addresses a parenting question while they count down Billboard 100’s Top 5 Songs. The gang plans a spa trip and tackles Hollywood’s casting problems during the Movie Chart, and Kulap tries to plot out Dragon Manor while Kevin’s Seduction Tunes flow during Two Charted.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CHARTED) and Warby Parker (www.warbyparker.com/charted).

No matter how you feel about the films of Brian Taylor—a high-voltage assortment that includes Crank, Gamer and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance—they all, at first glance, inspire a shared singular question: how the fuck did this get made? 

Seriously. Just look at what these movies are about: 

• To avoid dying, a British hitman must keep adrenaline coursing through his body.   
  
• In a future where kids can control humans as if they were videogame characters, a wrongly imprisoned death row convict seeks freedom.
  
• Years after making a deal with the Devil, a hell-on-wheels monster known as “The Ghost Rider” must save a young boy (and, ultimately, the world).

To many, these films are considered “guilty pleasures.” Yet interestingly enough, they come from an unexpectedly honest place; a desire to provide viewers with an alternative to the four-quadrant, check-the-boxes, CGI-everything Hollywood Machine. 

This underlying, upend-the-system ethos was just one the many things I learned during my conversation with Taylor. But by no means was it the most interesting. Not compared to hearing about his wild and crazy “maniac” days, the strange legacy of Gamer and what it’s really like to work with the iconic and eccentric enigma that is Nicolas Cage. 

Below is a transcript of our conversation:

hdtgm-brian-taylor

Singer Hadyn joins Jensen and Matty to talk about Jensen being his camp counselor, DJing, Flume’s cover of Ghost Town DJs “My Boo”, Seal’s 1994 album, battle rapper Fresco, how we were late on hypnotism, and much more.

This episode is brought to you by Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/karp code: KARP), MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/getup), and Tipsy Elves (www.tipsyelves.com code: KARP).

Join Kevin as he sits down with actor and comedian Jay Mohr (Mohr Stories, Jerry Maguire). With much conversational digression, Jay chats about painting pictures with words and how never to do an impression of ‘them’ for ‘them’.

This episode is brought to you by Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/KEVIN).

Makeup artist Lauren Urasek joins Deanna and Emily to share the story on how she became the most messaged woman on OkCupid. We hear how her life changed afterward including all the insane messages she received, writing a book about her experience, and venturing into podcasting herself. Plus, she shows off her makeup skills on Deanna & Emily!

Today’s caller discusses beating cancer and raising her son as a single mom. Through all of her struggles, big and small, she’s stayed relentlessly positive. Let’s just hope she doesn’t get fired for talking to Chris for an hour while at work!

This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon (www.mackweldon.com code: BEAUTIFUL), Mailchimp (www.mailchimp.com), Harry’s (www.harrys.com code: BEAUTIFUL), and Stamps.com (code: BEAUTIFUL).

Sean and Hayes are joined by standup/model YASSIR LESTER for a conversation about the arts of standup comedy and modeling.

This episode is brought to you by SockFancy (www.sockfancy.com/handbook), Harry’s (www.harrys.com code: HANDBOOK), and ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/first).

Ronna and Beverly’s Jessica Chaffin joins the Sklars on this week’s County. Jessica gets her longtime friend and HBO producer Bentley Weiner on the phone to discuss getting into boxing early on and to debate fantasy strategies. Then, Daniel Van Kirk brings Stories that include subterfuge at a Canadian mint, a woman stabbed by her own dog, and a gas stop turned kidnapping. Finally, Ronna Glickman calls in to express her disappointment at being left off the show.

This episode is sponsored by Mack Weldon (www.mackweldon.com code: SKLAR), Texture (www.texture.com/sklar), and MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/sklar).

Chris Gethard and Gary Richardson are here to analyze your dreams! Chris (an astute novice) and Gary (a dream expert of the “self-described” variety) dissect listener-submitted dreams in this brand new 8-episode series. You’ll hear from folks who have been attacked by razor-toothed demon children, received coded messages from their deceased relatives, and come face to face with the ghosts of Huey Lewis and the News, among many more terrifying, fascinating, and straight up bizarre dreams. Plus, each week a special guest joins in to help with the analysis, and to talk about their own strange dreams. The first episode lands on December 12. Don’t snooze through it!

In the past few weeks, we’ve written about not panicking, why you should absolutely panic, and just about everything in between when it comes to the Trump presidency. One thing we haven’t quite touched on yet is how real life actual people will be affected by the changes he promised to make during his campaign. 

One thing Trump already promised to do is repeal an Obama executive order called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.  DACA allows children who were brought here illegally (keyword: children) to gain somewhat-legal status; protection from deportation, a social security card, in exchange for staying out of trouble and being an active part of the workforce. These are law-abiding, tax-paying young adults whose home country for all intents and purposes is America. A lot of them don’t even know the know the language spoken in their country of origin. The shittiest thing is these people might be the first to be deported because they had the unmitigated gall to actively try to live in the United States legally.

Robert Evans and Tom Reimann grab the reigns of the podcast this week and have conversations with a potential victim of the removal of DACA, a transgender woman whose medications may no longer be covered, and an army vet whose parents are immigrants to talk about the scary world they’ve been suddenly thrust into. Later a British journalist joins to talk about the parallels to Brexit and why we might soon see fascist vs. anti-fascist fighting in the streets, and how it could look.

If your life has been concretely or irrevocably changed by the new administration, we want to hear your story. Email us at tips@cracked.com.

Footnotes:

NYT: Former Head of Homeland Security on DACA: https://goo.gl/kUt7GP

Complex: Trans People Rushing to get Gender-Affirming Surgery Before Trump: https://goo.gl/4Ie3M6

The Guardian: Fascist/Anti-Fascist Fight in Dover: https://goo.gl/HWOd8b

VICE: More Fascist/Anti-Fascist Fighting: https://goo.gl/uNWTZO

Southern Poverty Law Center: Hate & Extremism Statistics: https://goo.gl/5OPBdj

Also make sure to buy tickets to our next LIVE podcast taping on Saturday, December 10th at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Jack and the crew will be giving a much needed, “good riddance” to the year 2016 with our annual Year In Review In Review. The Cracked staff and some special guests will fill in the gaps where most of of the other ‘Years In Review’ leave out half of the story. Tickets are only $5 and available here: https://goo.gl/zMwKua

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CRACKED), Foot Cardigan (www.footcardigan.com code: HOLIDAY16), Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/cracked code: cracked), and Loot Crate (www.lootcrate.com/cracked code: CRACKED).

Let’s have a few drinks and talk about the adventures of the dwarf, Lager Brewerhead.

Credits

Arnie: Arnie Niekamp
Chunt: Adal Rifai
Usidore: Matt Young
Lager Brewerhead: Jon Gabrus
Mysterious Man: Tim Sniffen

Producers: Arnie Niekamp, Evan Jacover, Ryan DiGiorgi
Editor: Ryan DiGiorgi
Theme Music: Andy Poland
Magic Tavern Logo: Allard Laban
Audio Assistance: Jason Knox
Production Assistance: Garrett Schultz

This episode is brought to you by Cards Against Humanity, Tor Books, Magic: The Gathering Puzzle Quest, and SockFancy (www.sockfancy.com/magic).

Award-winning musician and radio host John Tesh has certainly earned the title of Hamilton superfan. At last count, he’d seen the show nine times. He joins Travon and Mike to geek out about the soundtrack and talk about the time Lin-Manuel Miranda shouted to him from onstage. He also raps some fatherly verses he wrote about his teenage daughter. Plus, Travon and Mike get answers to all of their questions about Tesh’s iconic NBA theme song, “Roundball Rock.”

This episode is brought to you by Secrets, Crimes & Audiotape podcast, Sock Club (www.sockclub.com code: HAMILTON), MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/hamilton), and Berklee (www.online.berklee.edu/hamilton).

Professional comedians Nick Thune (Good Guy) and Moshe Kasher (Hound Tall Discussion Series) join Scott to chat about the first time they’ve met, crazy neighbors, and to meet the Dell Dude. Then, the World’s 1st Female breakdancer Wendy Quote The Worm Endquote Widelman stops by to tell us how she accidentally became a breakdancer and to show off some of her moves. The rest is herstory.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: BANGBANG) and Stamps.com (code: BANGBANG).

Paul F. Tompkins welcomes friends and lovers to this week’s episode of Spontaneanation! This week, Paul’s special return guest is the hilarious Ron Funches! They chat about what Ron bought with his own money as a child, the grisly aspects of working at a cannery, and the unique way employees were punished  at a telemarketing job he once had. Paul is then joined by Jordan Black, Jeremy Carter, and Jean Villepique, to improvise a story set in a Salem, Oregon Comic Shop. And as always, Eban (only the best) Schletter scores it all on piano!

SAN FRANCISCO! Spontaneanation Live returns to SF Sketchfest on January 14th! With Eugene Cordero, Tawny Newsome & Little Janet Varney, plus a very special guest. Tickets are almost gone, so get yours NOW! http://bit.ly/SFSFSPONT17

This episode is brought to you by HUAWEI (www.huawei.fit/spont), Leesa (www.Leesa.com/spont), ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/pft), and MVMT Watches (www.mvmtwatches.com/pft).

Matt and Matt return! We decided it’s been a while so why not sit down with our friend Andrew and rank every single James Bond theme 24 thru 1.

Casey and Danielle celebrate the one year anniversary of Bitch Sesh with a VERY special guest – THE boot on the ground himself: Saint Andy Cohen. 

This episode is brought to you by Madison Reed (www.madison-reed.com code: HOUSEWIVES), Adam and Eve (www.adamandeve.com code: BITCH), Third Love (www.thirdlove.com/housewives), and Kopari (www.koparibeauty.com/housewives).

When is it appropriate to use your cellphone in a movie theater? Paul gets into this and more as he opens up the Explanation Hope Line and goes through Corrections and Omissions for The Lawnmower Man. We’re also treated to an exclusive interview between Blake J. Harris and The Lawnmower Man director Brett Leonard (to read the entire interview go to www.slashfilm.com). Plus, we’ll find out which high school we’ll be returning to in our next movie, The Movie Bitches review Doctor Strange, and Paul’s got some great picks for you to enjoy!

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: BONKERS)

Get yourself a BB-8 “What Is Its Mission?” T-shirt or Tote Bag over at http://howdidthisgetmade.bigcartel.com

Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

Paul is in the new Nicolas Cage film “Army of One” available on VOD.

Paul’s new comedy Filthy Preppy Teen$ is now avail on the FullScreen and you can see June and Paul in their old show NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU. Paul also appears on Fresh off the Boat on ABC.

June stars in Grace and Frankie on Netflix, as well as Lady Dynamite alongside with Jason.

Jason can be seen in How to Be Single, Sleeping with Other People, and is still indeed in The Dictator.

We hear about ISIS all the time – but what is it really like, and how dangerous is it? Journalist Joby Warrick has been covering the Middle East and national security for decades, and in this episode he talks to David about just how we should be dealing with the extremist group.

This episode is brought to you by Children’s International (www.children.org/give), SockFancy (www.sockfancy.com/gregory), and Proper Cloth (www.propercloth.com/gregory).

Recorded live as part of The Boston Jewish Film Festival at the Somerville Theatre in Boston, the fabulous Eugene Mirman of Bob’s Burgers joins Ronna and Beverly to chat about growing up speaking only Russian, crying for 45 minutes as part of his 9 volume comedy album, and who he closely resembles. It’s a fantastic night shared here for your listening pleasure!

This episode is brought to you by Third Love (www.thirdlove.com/shalom) and Harry’s (www.Harrys.com code: SHALOM).

Sarah Pappalardo (Reductress) and Frank Conniff (Mystery Science Theater 3000) join Negin as first-time guests to talk about the Jill Stein-led recount effort, Fidel Castro’s death, and Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. Plus, presidential conflicts of interest, Negin’s trip to Cuba, and tips for confronting hateful comments and racist jokes.

This episode is brought to you by Stamps.com (www.stamps.com code: FAKE)

“Mr. Show” and “W/ Bob and David” veteran John Ennis joins Randy and Jason this week to share tips on being an art dad. Then we hear about what college life was like with David Cross and why playing angry isn’t interesting anymore. Tales of dangerous quarterbacking and the easily robbed are shared during Quick Hits, and finally, Bill Walton calls in to assess his son’s performance as head coach of the Lakers.

This episode is sponsored by Enclosed (www.theenclosed.com/sklar), Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/sklar), and Warby Parker (www.warbyparker.com/sklar).

Combat Jack (The Combat Jack Show) returns to join Andrew this week to talk about our reality, New Balance, and much more. As always, leave us a message about anything you think is racist at (323) 389-RACE.

This week Bryan shares about the scam that is poison control, while Erin’s fur baby is back in town! Also some researchers in Austria have recently confirmed Imposter Syndrome as being harmful in the workplace, and the absolutely homophobic and horrible KT McFarland has just been appointed by Trump for a staff position. Plus, Guest Marc Andreyko is here to discuss the Napa Valley Train, women in comics, and his new graphic novel “Love is Love” to raise money for the victims, survivors, and loved ones of the Orlando Pulse shootings.

Musical guests Jeff Rosenstock and Chris Farren join Chad Carter, Betsy Sodaro, Craig Rowin, and Matt Besser for a saga of mirth and song! Jeff and Chris perform songs that inspire scenes about completely misreading a break-up, being very determined to poop in public, and the needy husband of a surgeon. Plus, a local candleshop cashes in, and a restaurant patron gets his go at running the place.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace and MVMT Watches.

Straight from The Magic Tavern come Adal Rifai, Arnie Niekamp, and Matt Young to interrupt Scott’s one man program. Rollicking adventures ensue when the gang gets trapped in the Earwolf studio. They find out whose father is a ghost, play “Honesty or Challenge,” and try to undo the curse that may keep them locked away for all time.

This episode is sponsored by Foot Cardigan, Soothe, and HBO’s Pete Holmes: Faces and Sounds.

Season 3 of THE BLACK LIST TABLE READS continues with a sit-down chat featuring screenwriter Robert Ian Simpson, Franklin Leonard, and Kate Hagen, to talk about the origin of how MONSTERS OF MARY SHELLEY came to be, favorite films, importance of authenticity, and creating a narrative for real life.

This episode is brought to you by Scribnos.com.

GOP strategist Mike Murphy caught the political bug early: he began his career as a college student making radio ads out of his dorm room for a long-shot congressional race. He’s gone on to specialize in winning statewide campaigns for governor and Senate. He’s been the lead strategist for many major Republican figures, including John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mitt Romney. He also had a role in the 2016 campaign season. “I ran the Jeb Bush super PAC,” he explains, “which gives me the unique credential of having blown, oh, over 95 million dollars and not winning.” Mike joins Katie and Brian to discuss his vocal criticism of Donald Trump, the media’s role in modern politics and why he’s a hopeless romantic when it comes to presidential races.

This episode is brought to you by Sock Club, Aspen Ideas to Go podcast, Hello Fresh, and Omaha Steaks.

Cruising for a bruising with Mike Siegel.

This episode is brought to you by HUAWEI, Harry’s, Pete Holmes: Face and Sounds on HBO, and Tipsy Elves.

The Shrimps take on The Lucille Ballers at Pan Pacific Auditorium and burger palace. Matt Gourley and Mark McConville call the action.

The Shrimps on Twitter: @pistolshrimpsbb
The Shrimps on Instagram: @thepistolshrimps
Pistol Shrimps Radio on Twitter: @shrimpsradio
Pistol Shrimps Radio on Instagram: @pistolshrimpsradio

Matt Gourley on Twitter and IG: @mattgourley
Mark McConville on Twitter and Instagram: @markmcconville