Today’s Flop Story!

We’re going to be BACK at SF SKETCHFEST in January! On Sunday, 1/25 at 4 pm, to be exact! Come see the Peaches in the afternoon for once, and get to bed at a reasonable hour! We haven’t picked our movie yet, but it’s either gonna be some sort of San Francisco treat, or a canonical flop we haven’t discussed before. Hope to see many of you there! Tickets here!

Thank You Chicago!

We just returned from two wonderful shows at Sleeping Village in Chicago, discussing the two sides of Jim Belushi — cocky, overconfident criminal in Taking Care of Business and cocky, overconfident cop in K-9! 

Sadly, due to technical issues, the TCB early show didn’t get recorded in its entirety — but we did get fragments of that show, which I plan on editing together and releasing as bonus content for the TRUE SICKOS out there (aka listeners who can put up with jumping around in time like Billy Pilgrim). Fortunately we did resolve all tech issues for the late show, which taped with no problems, so you can look forward to K-9 LIVE in your feed soon!

Thank you to all who came out! It was so nice to see so many listeners in person, including an attendee from Dan’s hometown of Eureka, IL (complete with Eureka Red Devils shirt!); several maniacs who flew in from out of town; and local Chicagoan Keith Phipps (of The Reveal, The Dissolve, and the AV Club — look for Dan as a guest on his podcast The Laser Age in the future!).

We all loved getting to spend some extra time in Chicago, a beautiful city that does NOT need National Guard or ICE thugs. While there, Stuart got to celebrate his wedding anniversary with Sharlene, Dan got to spend time with family who still live in Illinois (going on field trips to The Griffith Museum of Science and Industry, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Millennium Park); and Elliott did a signing for his new book, Joke Farming. Always working, that one!

It was also a wonderful time to catch up with Flop-family, as we were fortunate enough that producer Alex was able to drive up and join us for both shows (where he provided the essential help of immediately asking whether we needed a drink after each, as we went to sign posters and books at the merch table), and we had a memorably indulgent dinner with him and his wife. Thank you Chicago (and listeners!) for making all of it possible.

Next on the Podcast

11/22 - Our third FULL EPISODE of MOVEMBER (the month that gives you mo[re]) features guest Michael Shanks, the writer/director/actor behind the film Together and the TV series Wizards of Aus! He selected a throwback for us to discuss — THE ONE, starring Jet Li, Jason Statham, Carla Gugino, and some giant rat testicles.

11/29 - We end Movember with one of our most exciting and unique episodes ever, as we welcome certified sweetheart Chris Weitz, to discuss AfrAId. Yes. You read that right. We’ll be talking AfrAID, written and directed by Chris himself — the first time a writer/director has appeared on a full episode to discuss his OWN movie. It was such a delight to tape, and we all had a ton of fun, and Chris wins the “best sport in the world” award for 2025 and forever after.

Plugging Away

Next up on FlopTV — ZARDOZ! Enter the holiday season the traditional way: with Sean Connery in a big red diaper. I know for a fact we’ve got some especially fun stuff cooked up for this one. We hope you can join us live on 12/6 or video on demand thereafter! Individual tickets and season passes are both available!

Elliott appeared on 99% Invisible to talk about his new book Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense, as well as the radio show Air Talk. Listen to him comedy-philosophize! And if you prefer comic books to “comic books,” check out his continuing work on Harley Quinn!

Stuart paints Warhammer models/chats with viewers most Fridays on his Twitch channel. Stop by one of his bars in Brooklyn, or take a class at Jiggle Studio!

Dan’s personal newsletter, Dan McCoy’s Special Interests comes out every non-Flop Secrets week! The most recent installment includes a heartwarming story about softcore nudie comedies and an entire spec script for the sitcom Scrubs that he wrote about two decades ago! And check out Deathbed, “Horror Stories by Comedy Writers”.

You Made it to the End!

Here’s us taping with Michael Shanks, who was kind enough to navigate the time difference between the U.S. and Australia!